Seems like another ho-hum russian aburdity story about how to dodge accountability for these warehouse strikes. But it also says a lot about who Ukraine is dealing with. Pretending that Putin is a logical state actor who can be managed with rules and agreements badly misses the point.

Think about this - first, he told private industry that air defence is THEIR business, not the state's. That THEY are liable for not just defence, but damages. And now this - that if they fail to provide 'adequate protection', then the state will take over. But take over what? What person with more than single-digit IQ would think that the sycophant gangster state administrators can even RUN private business effectively, much less provide improved air defence.

This is petromafia of black hearted gangster ghouls. The bigger story that we've failed to grasp is that complete seizure of the entire society was always an option. It's not a country - it's a slave state. Recent bank runs and moronic moves like this will destroy industry. Even if Russia starts taking over WB & OZON for.... failing to protect themselves from Ukrainian drones.... what would change?

Why would any business even TRY to operate in Russia at this point? Not only will you not be protected, not only is inflation spiraling and the economy clearly rocketing towards a dead end. The state will simply seize your assets when they want. There is no law here.

It's truly madness, and probably the event horizon for private business in Russia. But moreover - it shows the idiotic desperation and vile greed that really drives the RF. This war will not end until Putin is dead, full stop.

Russia can't save Wildberries & OZON, and they're not going to. It's the end of e-commerce within Russia, and Ukraine would do very well to keep up the strikes.

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[–] fist_of_fartitude@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If I had to guess, this is probably more about the oil industry than online retail. Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin is a close associate of Putin's and has previously suggested putting refineries under their control. The warehouse attacks are expensive and disruptive, but they're nothing compared to the fuel crisis.

[–] TwinkleToes@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

that's a very good point, but that doesn't alter the absurdity of it, nor the clear menace to private enterprise. I mean - what you'd WANT the "government" to say in a case like this is that we will help protect you. Not 'we're going to take your shit if you don't provide your OWN air defesne'.

My first reaction was how incredibly dumb this is to say to them. It clearly says that "we can't stop the drone attacks", and they're just shifting accountability or preparing to hollow out the country and steal everything. But then what? The russian army's air defense is SUPPOSED to be protecting strategic assets like refineries now, and they're not doing it.

Even if you just accepted the state stealing everything as an inevitability....how's that going to work out for the new 'owners'? Refineries are large, fixed, hard to defend targets and Ukraine is getting better at attacking, not worse.

It's really, really hard to understand the russian mindset. The closest i can come is that despite wearing suits, they are much closer to fur-clad, pre-medieval barbarian beasts in practice. The organzing principle of society is "do as I say, or I will kill you". Thievery is expected as the norm, according to your station in life. Rules don't matter, only power does. Empathy is weaknes, and the individual and collective attitude of a russian is that they only care about the 1 square foot of ground they are standing on, and nothing else matters. In this situation, even though the fairly rational, 21st century reaction westerners exepct would be "hey, these attacks on our industry are bad. We should do our best to make them stop"....Russia's ACTUAL reaction is "hey, stopping these attacks would be hard to do. Let's put the blame on the victims, and then steal their shit".

Rabid hyenas.

[–] deWafelMan@lemmus.org 2 points 1 day ago

Frankly, it's the end of private enterprise in Russia. Wildberries and Ozon are just the start, Ukraine will need new targets in the future. Company owners have the choice: implement your own air defence, and get your company confiscated, or get destroyed.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Funny how its the states failure (invading a sovereign nation) that caused it all to begin with.

[–] TwinkleToes@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago

It also highlights in huge block letters that these are not people you can negotiate with. The state exists to be plundered. The government says not only are we not going to protect you, but we are going to seize all of your assets. Doing this at the large end of the economy with WB & OZON sends a pretty clear message down the chain - if you have anything of value, get it out now.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

That sounds kind of bizarre, but okay. Man, I thought that the Wildberries strikes alone would expose Russia's private industry to tremendous influence from Ukraine---Ukraine hit Wildberries stating that said company had been providing stuff for military use in Ukraine. I thought that the Russian government might pay for the losses just to avoid that influence. Guess not. Guess what Russian companies are probably going to be falling all over themselves to avoid doing in the future?

And this latest from Putin just...makes all that worse, because it makes it even worse to be hit. Like, it's not just like "the government isn't protecting you or eating losses on your behalf, but now it's actively going to prey on you if Ukraine chooses to attack you and does so successfully."

I've got an economic plan for you, Zelenskyy.

"We have allocated 1,000 drones per month to a pool of non-critical-to-our-war-effort companies. We are now accepting payment of amount per month to not be targeted. If you are hit, your insurance policy will probably have a war exclusion from coverage, your facility may be destroyed by us, and your other assets may be seized by the Kremlin."

EDIT: Eh, probably not Zelenskyy. Bad for Ukraine's image to have the government doing that. Now, an enterprising private company with an interest in the growing field of extorting-Russian-industry, that might go far.

[–] TwinkleToes@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You're getting the point - this illustrates how Russia is nothing but a crime syndicate from top to bottom. Thievery is not only not frowned upon - it's expected. There's a russian saying that "The man who doesn't steal, steals from his family".

It's incredible that business exists at all. At least for now.

[–] ivan@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

Putin himself was tightly linked to organised crime, part of “new Russians” back in 90’s, those that wore pink jackets.

And by mafia ways that country still lives - Wildberries was basically one big business eating smaller ones and making their owners their debt slaves. One has to sell shit with like 4x markup to turn any profit through that platform, and they all just went in like bunch of fucking sheep.