On 13 January, a large-scale fire broke out at the Wildberries warehouse in the Pushkinsky district of St Petersburg in the village of Shushary in Russia. The fire covered 50,000 square metres.
What is known about the large-scale fire of the Russians
According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the fire in the warehouse complex is 50,000 square metres. The fire is being extinguished by 270 rescuers and 57 pieces of equipment.
One of the preliminary versions of the cause of the fire is arson of the warehouse complex.
Allegedly, a week before the fire, the fire alarm had been activated several times in the warehouse — each time it was a false alarm. So when it went off on 13 January, the workers initially thought it was another false alarm.
Initially, the burning warehouse contains clothes.
Sanctions against the Wildberries marketplace
Wildberries is an international online retailer of clothing, footwear, electronics, children's goods, household goods and other products. In addition to Russia, it operates in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Poland, Slovakia, Germany and Israel. The company was founded by Russian businessmen Vladislav and Tatiana Bakalchuk in 2004.
On 23 July 2021, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures", which enacts the National Security and Defence Council's decisions on sanctions against Russian online retailer Wildberries and its founder, Russia's richest woman Tatiana Bakalchuk.
Then-Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the NSDC sanctions against Russian retailer Wildberries were another step in the fight to clear the Ukrainian information space of Russian expansion. According to him, Wildberries "sold Russian propaganda and uniforms of Russian soldiers", and therefore would no longer operate in Ukraine.
