Russia’s Wildberries to build 260,000 square metres of warehouse space in Kazakhstan

Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries is building more than 260,000 square metres of warehouse space in Kazakhstan, Kazakhstani Trade and Integration Minister Arman Shakkaliyev announced on Tuesday. The move comes as the Russian company seeks to shield its logistics network from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Wildberries will build a warehouse of over 100,000 square metres near Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, and a second, 160,000-square-metre facility in Almaty, the country’s largest city. Both are set to be finished in the first quarter of 2027. Wildberries already leases roughly 46,000 square metres of warehouse space in the Central Asian country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Ministry Mikhail Galuzin said that Moscow and Astana had begun working to integrate their online marketplaces even before Ukrainian strikes on Wildberries warehouses in Russia. He noted that hundreds of thousands of Kazakh suppliers are already registered on the Ozon and Wildberries platforms, though he declined to give details of specific deals, suggesting journalists seek that information from the companies themselves.

Russian business daily Kommersant reported on 29 July that Wildberries had begun scouting warehouse space in Kazakhstan following Ukraine’s drone strikes on its logistics hubs across Russia. Sources cited by the newspaper said the company was prepared to buy virtually all available warehouse space in Kazakhstan, given the country’s limited supply, as part of an effort to move some of its capacity out of reach of further attacks. The paper also reported that Wildberries continues to seek new warehouse space inside Russia, but that owners of vacant facilities have been reluctant to sign new leases with the company because of the ongoing risk of drone strikes.

Ukrainian forces have carried out drone attacks on at least a dozen Wildberries facilities in recent weeks.