Russian e-commerce giants seek state aid after drone attacks

Russia’s Association of Digital Platforms, whose members include major e-commerce companies Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex, Avito and Kuper, has called on the government to provide financial support to businesses affected by drone attacks on marketplace logistics facilities.

The association has put forward a package of measures aimed at helping entrepreneurs recover from losses and resume operations, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

One of the key proposals is direct compensation from the federal budget. The association suggests that payments be calculated according to the actual damage suffered by each business and its overall scale.

The association is also calling for affected businesses to receive a deferral of taxes and mandatory payments for at least six months, with penalties and fines suspended throughout the deferral period.

In addition, the organization has proposed a six-month suspension of loan repayments and assistance with restructuring existing debts. It also wants the government to provide preferential loans to businesses seeking to restore damaged operations and infrastructure.

Another proposal would introduce insurance coverage for goods and property against damage caused by drone attacks, with the government partially subsidizing the cost of such insurance.

The scale of the losses could be substantial. Head of the Association of Suppliers of Goods for Trading on Electronic Platforms Margarita Evstigneeva estimated that more than 400,000 sellers have already been affected.

Sergei Semko, a lead analyst at research agency Data Insight, previously estimated that potential losses among marketplace sellers could amount to between 445 billion and 507.8 billion rubles, equivalent to approximately $6 billion.

By Vafa Guliyeva