Wildberries Seeks Kazakh Warehouses to Escape Ukrainian Drone Strikes

Representatives from RMB Group, the parent company of Wildberries, are reportedly scouring Kazakhstan to lease every available square meter of storage. While the firm is currently constructing two major facilities near Almaty and Astana, these hubs will not be operational until 2027. The immediate push to relocate operations highlights a growing reluctance to rebuild or expand within Russia, where storage sites have become high-profile targets for Ukrainian attacks.

Moving logistics to Kazakhstan presents significant, long-term operational hurdles. Despite both nations belonging to the Eurasian Economic Union, the border is plagued by severe congestion and unpredictable customs delays. Recent measures, including the introduction of police checkpoints at major crossings, threaten to bottleneck the movement of goods. Furthermore, the regional economic fallout is already mounting; small businesses in Kyrgyzstan have required government-issued tax holidays to survive the disruption, and Kazakh merchants report at least $3 million in merchandise losses linked to the destroyed Russian warehouses.

This shift also coincides with a renewed wave of Russian migration into Central Asia, driven by fears of a potential military mobilization. As Russian vendors hesitate to sign new deals, the company faces a dual crisis: a shrinking domestic supply network and a volatile, logistically complex international expansion strategy.