Drone attacks hit Wildberries facilities in 14 regions; platform shar…

An update to the 5 September report that Putin's talks with the US envoys lasted over three hours: the American side has now publicly assessed the outcome for the first time. Witkoff said at a press conference in Kyiv on 6 September: «I think we made a lot of progress in Moscow. We heard new ideas», adding that Zelensky also spoke of a trilateral format that he hopes will be announced soon, and that all parties must compromise. Kushner called a US–Russia–Ukraine format «the most productive» way of working.

An update to the vague 1 September framing of a possible trilateral meeting at the APEC summit: a separate Putin–Xi meeting will now be planned, with dates and venue fixed. Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said in an interview with the Vesti programme that they would «naturally seek to plan separate meetings for our leader, including of course with Mr Xi Jinping», and that «if the opportunity arises, our leader will also meet the US president». He stressed that organising a trilateral meeting is «a matter for the hosts», and that if it happens it «will not be useless». The APEC summit will be held in Shenzhen on 18–19 November.

An update to the 31 August account of «pragmatic and respectful» talks: Moscow has commented publicly for the first time. Peskov said: «Yes, it was a signal — to declare Armenia's sovereignty. Why that cannot be declared in Russian, honestly, we did not understand», while adding that «this is the choice of the head of state. We respect it». Pashinyan spoke in Armenian at the SCO summit in Bishkek.

Following their regular monthly online meeting on 6 September, seven OPEC+ countries (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Oman) extended September quotas into October: Saudi Arabia 10.478 mb/d, Russia 9.949 mb/d, Iraq 4.431, Kuwait 2.676, Kazakhstan 1.628, Algeria 1.007 and Oman 0.841 mb/d, for a combined 31.01 mb/d excluding compensation. The next meeting is set for 4 October.

From early September, major banks and retailers have been opening their infrastructure to the digital ruble: users can open an account in the «Digital ruble» section of any connected bank's app on the Central Bank platform (one account per individual and per company, two for sole traders). Individuals may top up to 300,000 rubles a month from their own bank accounts; businesses face no cap. P2P transfers, budget payments and purchases are free for citizens, while businesses enjoy a fee holiday until year-end, after which market-lowest tariffs apply from 2027. The digital ruble is the third form of the national currency: it cannot be used for deposits, loans, interest or loyalty programmes, and its use is voluntary.

Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said in a Vesti interview on 6 September: «Give everyone my regards, tell them we will keep supplies stable». He added: «Not one of our filling stations is closed. Queues arise because other networks sometimes have problems, but we will cope». Russian outlets note that the domestic fuel shortage stems from unscheduled refinery repairs after drone attacks.

In a Vesti interview, the Russian foreign minister said: «Leipzig, the airport... They found some drone there and said it was Russian without bothering to investigate. That is essentially the start of a real war». He compared Germany's closure of the Bonn consulate general and the Berlin Russian House to Berlin shutting its diplomatic missions before World War II. On Merz's rearmament plans, Lavrov said the chancellor «is, in effect, going to declare war on us, and the lessons of history have not been learned at all», adding that «metastases of nazism are beginning to break through» and that Russia's leadership will draw the appropriate conclusions.

An update to the 4 September report that Berlin demanded around 70 consulate staff leave: Moscow has now formally characterised the motive. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Solovyov's Sunday Evening programme that Germany is closing the consulate general «in order to strike, as they see it, at the work of our diplomats in Germany preparing for the elections», but «they will not get their way — our elections in Germany will be held too». She said Berlin's plans to shut both the consulate and the Russian House «existed long ago» and that the move sparked protests inside Germany. On 1 September Berlin blamed Russia for the Leipzig/Halle airport drone incident; Putin called the new anti-Russian decisions a «gross mistake», after which Moscow moved to close all Goethe Institute branches in Russia.

An update to the 5 September report that US forces struck three IRGC-linked tankers: on 6 September CENTCOM denied Iran's claim of hitting a US Navy unmanned surface vessel. According to US data, the US Navy has intercepted 92 merchant ships since the maritime blockade of Iran was reinstated. Tehran said the same day it would respond more harshly to US aggressive actions.

Mayor Alexander Skryabin announced a local state of emergency within the boundaries of streets damaged by falling drones, setting up operational headquarters and damage-assessment commissions and opening applications for financial aid. Governor Yuri Slyusar said around 30 drones were destroyed over the Rostov region overnight; a child was hospitalised in Rostov's Sovetsky district and three more people later sought medical attention, two of them admitted to hospital. Two apartment blocks were damaged, and a flat and windows were hit in the Leninsky district. Drones were also neutralised in Bataysk and several districts. The Rostov region's largest library was damaged in the same overnight attack.

The procession set off from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and followed the Prechistenskaya and Frunzenskaya embankments via Khamovnichesky Val to the Novodevichy Convent, a route of about 6.5 km. At its head were carried the wonderworking Smolensk icon of the Mother of God, the reliquary of Dmitry Donskoy and the icon of All Moscow Saints. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk put participation at around 100,000. This is the second all-city procession: the tradition was revived in 2025 on Patriarch Kirill's initiative and is timed to the feast of the Council of Moscow Saints.

Online board data for 08:30 Moscow time on 6 September showed 61 flights off schedule at Sochi, with waits ranging from 50 minutes to 23 hours; 31 departures were delayed (including to Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Batumi and Tbilisi) and three flights cancelled. Ten flights were delayed in Krasnodar (Antalya, Yerevan, Makhachkala and others), with waits of 1.5 to 17 hours. Several arrivals and departures were held in Volgograd, with a maximum wait of around three hours. The cause was temporary flight-safety restrictions imposed by Rosaviatsiya: in Sochi they were in force from 00:17 to 03:22 Moscow time.

At around 17:00 on 6 September an avalanche swept down Mount Mizhirgi in the Bezengi Gorge and buried a group of 15 mountaineers on the route. The regional emergencies directorate reported two dead and three injured, with ten still under the snow. Rescuers from the Elbrus high-altitude search and rescue unit and an operational group were dispatched, with an Mi-8 helicopter to be deployed; three injured climbers were evacuated by helicopter. The Investigative Committee has opened a negligence case.

On the evening of 6 September a fire broke out in a single-storey house on Yuzhnaya Street in the village of Amzya, Neftekamsk district, Bashkortostan; open burning was extinguished over 50 sq m. While clearing the site, the bodies of three minors were found — boys aged 12 and 4 and a 6-year-old girl. Twenty-eight personnel and 13 vehicles were deployed. The cause and circumstances are under investigation.

Energodar administration head Maxim Pukhov said updated figures showed nine people injured in the daytime drone strike on the market; a man born in 1979 who was seriously wounded died in hospital. The other victims' lives are not in danger and they remain under medical observation. A second strike followed the first. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a terrorism case.

An update to the 5 September report of a woman killed when an FPV drone hit a car: the death toll has risen to two and a second location was hit. The regional operational headquarters reported that in Oktyabrskaya Gotnya, Borisovsky district, an FPV drone struck a car, killing a man and a woman at the scene. In Soloti, Valuysky district, a drone hit a transport infrastructure facility; two men suffered blast injuries and were taken to Stary Oskol district hospital. In Lavy, a fence and garage gate at a private house were damaged.

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said in a Vesti interview that Russia's largest companies are already investing in protecting their refineries: «Some are under way, some have done a great deal, some are just starting. But at least the process is in an active phase». He said the government has explained to companies how to implement in practice the presidential decree on measures to ensure the security of critical infrastructure facilities, which requires anti-drone nets, electronic warfare systems and short-range air defence.

Murmansk region governor Andrey Chibis announced on his Max channel that S7 will invest over 2 billion rubles in developing the Murmansk Ship Repair Plant (part of S7 Group via the Sea Launch space centre); more than 1 billion rubles has already gone into production and docks are being restored. He said the yard allowed the Yenisei tanker to return to its home port of Murmansk for repairs — previously the vessel was serviced at European repair bases. Two of three floating docks are ready to accept vessels, with the third due in 2027; the docks can also service icebreakers operating on the Northern Sea Route.

Italian driver Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes won the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting 19th. His teammate George Russell finished second and Red Bull's Max Verstappen third. Russell's late-race fight with Antonelli nearly cost the latter victory on home soil, and fans booed Russell during the podium ceremony.

At the Kinoshita Group Cup in Tokyo, Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky took gold in pairs, with Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov second and Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Evgenyev third — a Russian sweep of the podium. The same day, Alexandra Trusova won silver on her comeback to competition after giving birth.

In Russian Premier League matchday 7, Lokomotiv Moscow picked up their first win of the season away from home. In the Moscow derby played the same day, Dynamo beat Spartak despite playing with a man less.

Data provided to Kommersant by Kokoc Group show that drone attacks on Wildberries logistics facilities in July–August 2026 affected 14 regions accounting for 68% of turnover in the studied categories; Wildberries' share in those categories fell from 53% in June to 51.3% in July. What this means for Chinese sellers: warehouse strikes have shifted from isolated incidents to a regional fulfilment risk — before peak season, split stock across warehouses in different federal districts rather than concentrating it in one hub, and build longer delivery buffers for southern and border regions.

Ozon told Kommersant that over 80% of its turnover has come from regions in recent years and about 85% of active customers now live outside the capital region; in H1 2026 one in three orders went to towns and villages under 50,000 people, where it has twice as many customers as in Moscow, and four in ten Ozon pickup points are now in such small settlements. Wildberries says the Moscow region's share has fallen to just under one fifth of its Russian turnover (28% in 2022); Yandex Market says it is systematically expanding in the regions. What this means for Chinese sellers: assortments and price points need rebuilding around regional purchasing power — cheap, practical goods turn over better in small towns, while delivery times and return costs from remote settlements must be priced in.

Only 60,000 sq m of light-industrial warehouse space was commissioned in Moscow and the Moscow region in H1 2026, down 72% YoY, while supply of such space rose 27% and deal volume fell 25%. Ricci's analytics and research director Olesya Dzyuba attributes this to delayed project deliveries plus persistently expensive debt financing, which hits the SMEs that are the main tenants. What this means for Chinese sellers: those setting up FBS or self-fulfilment around Moscow will find fewer new small-format warehouses and less room to negotiate rent, but existing supply is growing — it makes more sense to take up current space than to wait for new deliveries.

On the morning of 6 September, falling drone debris damaged a train locomotive in Chertkovsky district, Rostov region; governor Yuri Slyusar reported seven passenger trains delayed by roughly three hours, with service restored by 11:37. Air defences downed 30 drones over the region that day, and four people were injured in Rostov-on-Don. What this means for Chinese sellers: Rostov-on-Don is southern Russia's key overland freight hub and drones have repeatedly hit rail and warehouse assets — before peak season, shipments to the south and the North Caucasus should be scheduled with half a day to a day of slack and a fallback routing.

Stanislav Bogdanov, head of the omnichannel retail association AKORT, said the share of Russian-grown fruit and vegetables in major chains keeps rising, with domestic produce dominating shelves in the August–early September peak; he credits agro-aggregators and farm contracts that pool small farmers' volumes and pre-fund harvests. X5 opened a berry collection site in Chuvashia and Magnit built its own fruit and vegetable warehouse in Tambov region. What this means for Chinese sellers: import substitution in fresh produce is advancing, so cross-border sellers should avoid head-on competition with seasonal Russian produce and pivot to processed foods, dry goods, gardening and home categories.

Kommersant reports that many Russian banks now run zero-commission acquiring promotions for businesses: VTB's campaign ended 31 August and Sberbank launched its first on 1 September (targeting micro and small businesses, sole traders and self-employed), after earlier campaigns by Rosselkhozbank and Sovcombank. VTB says such offers and seasonal fee waivers saved clients over 500 million rubles last year, with SME acquiring turnover up 56% YoY in H1 2026; Sovcombank says the campaign brought 53% of new clients and 74% stayed after it ended; RSKB reports 90% retention. What this means for Chinese sellers: with a Russian legal entity and your own online store you can lock in near-zero acquiring fees for a period; when selling on Ozon/WB/Yandex Market the platform pays acquiring, so the impact on pure marketplace sellers is limited.

Kokoc Group's calculations for Kommersant show that between June 2025 and July 2026 the share of Moscow and the Moscow region in online sales of clothing, electronics, footwear, appliances and home goods fell from 26.1% to 23.4%, with Ozon and Wildberries' combined turnover in those categories across Russia at about 5.4 trillion rubles. AKIT president Artyom Sokolov estimates Moscow accounted for 15.4% of Russian e-commerce in H1 2026 and the Moscow region 7.4%, with total internet trade at 7.2 trillion rubles. What this means for Chinese sellers: the capital agglomeration is near saturation but still growing in absolute terms, while the incremental growth is in the regions — shift in-platform ad budgets and stock allocation toward the regions instead of piling into Moscow.

MTS AdTech data show that in January–May 2026 Ozon's average monthly unique website users grew just 3% YoY and Wildberries' 1%, versus 6% for both a year earlier. Alexey Moskalenko of the e-trade association estimates 85–90% of Russia's economically active population already use the largest marketplaces. Market participants believe user numbers are close to their ceiling and that attacks on logistics infrastructure may also slow regional growth. What this means for Chinese sellers: the era of riding organic platform traffic growth is over — market share now has to be won with advertising, differentiated assortments and repeat-purchase operations, while the return on simply adding SKUs will keep declining.