Russian authorities are expanding support measures for businesses affected by attacks. Last week, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to prepare a programme to restore warehouse capacity damaged in the attacks. On Monday, the authorities announced that affected companies, including Wildberries itself, would receive tax payment deferrals. The businesses had also asked the state for direct non-repayable payments from the federal budget. On Monday, Putin also signed a decree allowing critical infrastructure facilities, including logistics centres, to be placed under temporary state administration
On Monday, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree providing for a critical infrastructure facility or business entity to be placed under temporary state administration if its owners had failed in advance to ensure security measures or if a security threat had emerged, including problems identified during drone attacks. The measure also applies where a business entity fails to restore, or delays restoring, the operation of critical infrastructure facilities. Critical infrastructure is defined to include fuel and energy facilities, industrial facilities, communications, utilities, transport and logistics infrastructure, including transport and logistics complexes, energy facilities, including nuclear facilities, life-support infrastructure, critical and potentially hazardous facilities, as well as other facilities of particular importance to national security, economic stability and the population’s livelihoods
Temporary administration may cover all or part of a business entity’s movable and immovable property located in Russia, whether the entity is a Russian individual or legal entity or a foreign organisation or individual. It may also cover securities and stakes in the capital of legal entities, as well as property rights. The decree states that expenses associated with temporary administration are to be financed from income generated by the use of the property
At the start of trading on the Moscow Exchange on Monday, Ozon shares came under heavy pressure, at one point falling almost 30% below Friday’s evening-session close. The sell-off followed attacks on several company facilities. On Saturday, Ozon’s press service said that its logistics centre in the Samara region had caught fire following a Ukrainian drone attack. The company said the warehouse would remain closed indefinitely. A warehouse in the Orenburg region was also temporarily shut, the regional government said on Sunday, citing information from the logistics centre. For security reasons, sellers were temporarily unable to deliver goods to the facility. On Monday, a drone attack also hit an Ozon logistics centre in Krasnodar, which was subsequently closed. Another logistics centre in Makhachkala was also attacked and suspended operations
The Ministry of Economic Development said it would consider and develop potential support measures for Ozon and marketplace sellers affected by the drone attacks if the company formally requested assistance
Last week, Putin had instructed the government to prepare a special programme to restore warehouse capacity damaged in attacks on logistics centres.
He noted that, ‘despite the recent terrorist attacks’, Russia’s trading infrastructure remained ‘effective and resilient’. ‘Of course, there have been and can be no critical consequences from such attacks. But they do cause damage,’ Putin said. ‘At the same time, logistics and warehouse capacity clearly needs to be restored, including with state participation. In this regard, I ask the government to adopt an appropriate programme. The restoration of damaged facilities must also be carried out at a fundamentally new technological level,’ the president said.
On Monday, the Ministry of Finance said it had prepared support measures for businesses affected by Ukrainian drone attacks on facilities belonging to the RWB group, Wildberries & Russ, as well as measures to ensure the company’s continued operation.
The ministry said the relevant draft government resolutions had already been submitted. Affected businesses will be allowed to defer for 12 months the payment of VAT, excluding VAT paid on imports into Russia, corporate profit tax, tax under the simplified taxation system and the automated simplified taxation system, insurance contributions and advance payments on these taxes due between August 2026 and July 2027. The deferred amounts can then be paid in equal instalments over the following year, beginning in the month after the original payment deadline. The measures will apply to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs whose losses exceed 5% of annual revenue
The authorities have also adopted separate measures to ensure the continued operation of RWB. ‘For the RWB group, the deadlines for VAT payments, excluding VAT paid on imports into Russia, corporate profit tax, insurance contributions and advance payments on these taxes due between July 2026 and June 2027 will be extended until July 28, 2027. The deferred amounts will then be paid in equal instalments over the following year, beginning in the month after the original payment deadline,’ the Finance Ministry said
For affected businesses and RWB, tax inspections and checks on the calculation and payment of insurance contributions will also be suspended until the end of the year. Related procedural deadlines will be suspended during this period. The deadlines for issuing demands for payment of arrears and decisions to recover them will also be extended by six months.
‘The proposed support measures will reduce the financial and administrative burden on affected businesses and create conditions for restoring their operations. Deferrals of taxes and insurance contributions, as well as the suspension of inspections, will allow businesses to focus their resources on preserving jobs and continuing their operations,’ Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
‘The measures prepared on the president’s instructions are the result of extensive inter-agency work with the business community. The key objective is to restore supply chains and preserve the resilience of trade. The package is aimed at supporting the entire supply infrastructure of the digital platform. It will ensure a steady supply of goods to the market and, most importantly, give entrepreneurs a real opportunity to keep their businesses and jobs and return to normal operations,’ Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on Monday
Wildberries’ logistics infrastructure and that of other companies has been coming under attack since July. Analysts at Data Insight estimate that Wildberries may have lost up to 22% of its logistics infrastructure. The total area of warehouses attacked is estimated at between 1.21 mln and 1.47 mln square metres, while sellers’ potential losses on goods in stock could reach RUB 214.9 bln to 279.6 bln. Other estimates put total business losses from attacks on Wildberries warehouses at close to RUB 300 bln, almost 0.2% of Russia’s GDP (see Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 17, 2026). The Association of Suppliers to E-Commerce Platforms said more than 400,000 sellers had been affected since the attacks on logistics hubs began. It estimated their total financial losses at RUB 600 bln to 700 bln, with the net cost of the destroyed goods put at RUB 200 bln to 300 bln. Experts in warehouse real estate also estimated the cost of restoring RWB facilities at about RUB 70,000 per square metre. Given the area of damaged warehouses, this would amount to RUB 62.5 bln to 80.8 bln. Wildberries itself has paid more than 40 RUB mln in compensation to those affected.
RWB head Tatyana Kim described the government’s support measures on Monday as an important step for Russian business. She said the programme was the result of major efforts by government agencies, industry associations and the Wildberries team.
‘The tax deferral will allow us to maintain the quality of life for our consumers, support business activity among all our entrepreneurs and their companies, and enable the platform economy to adapt to the new conditions as quickly as possible,’ Kim said.
According to analysts at Freedom Global, the proposed measures will primarily benefit large market participants.
‘On the one hand, it is quite reasonable that assistance is targeted at sellers whose losses exceed 5% of annual revenue: a seller with relatively small losses can compensate for them independently within six months to a year without government support. On the other hand, for seriously affected sellers, a tax deferral is justified but clearly insufficient. Suppose a small business loses all of its stock in warehouse fires and has no funds to purchase a new batch. It can use the deferral only if it has revenue. Without revenue, the business faces a stark choice: take on substantial debt, with no guarantee that a bank will approve a loan, put the business up for sale, or cease operations,’ the analysts said.
In their view, a more effective solution would be direct financial assistance from the state budget to sellers who had lost either all of their stock or at least 50% of their annual revenue.
‘The best option could be to allocate funds from the budgets of the regions where the affected warehouses were located,’ Freedom Global said.
‘Losses suffered by Wildberries sellers have been estimated in open sources at around RUB 300 bln. Preliminary estimates for Ozon have also emerged, putting losses to Ozon and its sellers at RUB 200 bln to 280 bln. There are no precise figures yet for tax deferrals, but data show that as of August 1, the total accumulated tax liabilities of sellers on the largest marketplaces, Ozon and Wildberries, amounted to RUB 1 tn to 1.5 tn. It is still difficult to say what share of these liabilities will qualify for deferral because it is unclear how many sellers lost more than 5% of their annual revenue,’ the analysts said
The Finance Ministry’s measures primarily reduce the tax burden and the administrative burden associated with tax inspections, said Anastasia Melnikova, a senior lecturer at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics
‘This is certainly significant assistance for both sellers and RWB. However, it is still unclear exactly how the programme will operate. Given its restrictions, the support is available only to sellers whose losses exceed 5% of annual revenue. As for the scale of RWB’s losses, they are difficult to assess accurately. In addition to obvious material losses, there are reputational costs. Sellers whose goods were damaged in the warehouses are also taking the company to court to seek compensation. At a minimum, this will consume administrative resources. At worst, there could be additional costs related to compensation payments if courts rule in their favour. The volume of tax deferrals for sellers is even harder to calculate without full information about their revenues, legal structures and tax regimes. It is also impossible to accurately calculate the tax deferral for RWB itself,’ she said.
‘Since July, Wildberries has lost at least 17% of its warehouse capacity because of drone attacks, seller losses are estimated at more than RUB 280 bln, and hundreds of thousands sellers have been affected. For now, the company and its sellers are bearing most of the direct losses from destroyed goods, while the state is helping not with money but with time, freeing up current cash flow through tax holidays,’ said Dmitry Vishnevsky, an analyst at Tsifra Broker.
ORIGINAL:NG/Marketplaces to Be Protected from Drone Attacks through Temporary State Administration
