Ozon discloses seller cost structure: 24.73% of sale price in Jan–Jul…

On 7 September Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing an interdepartmental commission on temporary restrictive measures. The justice minister chairs it ex officio; members come from the Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry, Federal Tax Service, FSB, financial monitoring service and the Prosecutor General's Office. Its main task is to consider monthly humanitarian allowances for close relatives with no income of their own of persons subject to the measures. The commission implements part 1 of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 284-FZ of 4 August 2026; the decree was published on the official legal information portal.

On 7 September Russia's Central Election Commission voted 12 to 1 to annul the registration of Communist Party State Duma candidate Nikolai Bondarenko and remove him from the registered federal list. The grounds are an administrative case under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences (propaganda or public display of Nazi or extremist symbols): Saratov's Oktyabrsky district court fined him RUB 1,000 on 21 August and the appeal was dismissed; the one-year period during which a person is deemed punished runs past election day. He had headed regional group No. 16, so ballots must be amended.

According to the Bank of Russia, international reserves rose by $48.674 billion, or 6.8%, in August 2026 to $769.022 billion from $720.348 billion. The value of monetary gold grew $40.63 billion, or 13.9%, to $333.484 billion, lifting its share to 43.4% as of 1 September from 40.7% a month earlier. Over January–August reserves added $14.169 billion, or 1.9%.

Finance Ministry data show the National Wealth Fund at RUB 13,194.88 billion (about $154.145 billion), or 5.6% of GDP, as of 1 September, an increase of RUB 474.03 billion in August after a RUB 383.3 billion decline in July. Liquid assets stood at RUB 3.998 trillion; yuan holdings fell to 183.996 billion and gold to 131.488 tonnes. Revaluation and dividends brought in over RUB 1 trillion in August.

Russian equities rose on 7 September: the MOEX index closed at 2,265.65 (+0.5%) and the RTS at 828.08 (+1%). Rosneft (+4.2%), Bank Saint Petersburg (+2.9%) and Surgutneftegas (+2.1%) led gains, while EuroTrans (-4.9%) and PIK (-6%) fell. November Brent futures at $97.59 a barrel (+1.4%, +7.6% on the week) provided support. From 8 September the official dollar rate is 86.1909 rubles (-39.48 kopecks) and the euro 100.1711 (-39.82 kopecks); the yuan closed at 12.8925 on the exchange (+11 kopecks).

An update to the 4 September report that Berlin demanded around 70 staff of Russia's Bonn consulate general leave with their families: Moscow has now responded in kind. On 7 September the Russian Foreign Ministry withdrew consent for the German consulate general in St Petersburg to operate, ordering it to cease activity no later than 18 September 2026 and all staff to leave by that date. All Goethe cultural centres in Russia are to stop operating, with German-assigned staff required to depart by 13 September. The ministry said German authorities «once again provoked a new round of escalation» and bear full responsibility. Berlin's move followed the discovery in August of an explosives-laden drone at Leipzig airport; Moscow denies the accusations.

On 7 September Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean premier Pak Thae-song cleared traffic on the road bridge over the Tumen River at the two countries' border; the «Khasan» road crossing with ten lanes was completed at the same time. The bridge itself is 1 km long (424 m on the Russian side, 581 m on the Korean side) and 7 m wide with two lanes; the whole crossing with approach roads is 4.7 km, and up to 300 vehicles a day can pass. It is named after Red Army officer and DPRK Labour Hero Yakov Novichenko, who in 1946 shielded Kim Il Sung from a grenade with his body. Previously the countries were linked only by a rail bridge and air service; the construction agreement was signed in 2024 and work began in spring 2025.

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said the government plans a 300% duty on grain from Russia and Belarus and to give competent authorities the right to inspect transit cargo from the two countries. He said the measure is aimed at ensuring that «Russian grain does not use the region's infrastructure», and Latvia seeks the backing of all three Baltic states. Riga had earlier proposed banning bus passenger services to Russia and Belarus.

An update to the 6 September report that the plant had been without external power for a 17th day: on 7 September supply was restored via the «Ferrosplavnaya-1» line and the plant switched to its normal operating configuration; the backup diesel generators that had covered the plant's own needs were shut down and placed on standby. The press service said all safety systems functioned normally with no breaches of safety limits or conditions. The line was damaged on 20 August; repairs were made possible by the Russian Defence Ministry, the National Guard, the Foreign Ministry and IAEA mediation. The plant notes that the 750 kV «Dneprovskaya» line must also be restored to improve reliability.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk said more than a thousand people lost acquired Russian citizenship in the first seven months of 2026. The main reason was criminal convictions allowing termination of acquired citizenship (72% of decisions); 11% involved failure to register initially for military service, 10% actions deemed a threat to national security, and a further 7% forged documents or knowingly false information. Refusals to grant citizenship rose 10%, with over 65% of rejections linked to forged or invalid documents. The mechanism has been in place since October 2023.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that in September women's health centres at the Veresayev and Inozemtsev city clinical hospitals and the «Kommunarka» multidisciplinary clinical centre began seeing patients. They operate under a new outpatient obstetric-gynaecological standard and will serve around 500,000 Moscow women. Twenty such centres now operate within city hospitals, replacing outdated women's clinics and providing a full cycle from consultations and examinations through pregnancy management and routing to maternity hospitals.

Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said several attacks were launched on Sevastopol overnight into 7 September, with air defences and mobile fire teams neutralising eight UAVs. Two people died — a teenage girl and a man (a theatre employee) who died in hospital; an 18-year-old woman and her 16-year-old brother were injured and later discharged. Ten apartment buildings (the updated daytime figure; eight were reported in the morning) and a kindergarten building were damaged, with windows, doors and facades hit. Power has been restored and kindergarten classes continue in another building. The drones carried explosives and metal elements; pyrotechnicians found hundreds of striking elements.

An update to the 6 September report on a 15-person group (two dead, three injured, ten buried): the regional emergencies directorate said on 7 September that 11 climbers died, six were hospitalised and ten descended on their own, while six remain unaccounted for. The group totalled 33 people. Search and rescue in the Bezengi Gorge was suspended overnight with 12 EMERCOM specialists on site and 46 on standby at the Bezengi camp, resuming in the morning. The Investigative Committee has opened a negligence case, overseen by the republic's prosecutor's office.

Perm Krai governor Dmitry Makhonin said on 7 September that a multi-storey residential building was damaged in a UAV attack: one person was killed and, preliminarily, four others injured and receiving medical care. Debris also hit a private house and its grounds without casualties. Air defences and mobile fire teams downed 27 UAVs over the krai during the day. A temporary accommodation point was set up for residents and the regional capital repair fund will begin restoration; the Investigative Committee is investigating a terrorist attack case.

On the evening of 7 September two cars collided at the 11th km of the Novoaleksandrovsk–Kropotkin road near Yuzhny settlement in Novoaleksandrovsky district, Stavropol Krai. The krai prosecutor's office reported four deaths, including a young girl (three adults and a child), and said there were injured whose number has not been specified. The Novoaleksandrovsk district prosecutor's office has opened an inquiry.

The regional emergencies directorate said on 7 September that dry grass is burning in Belyayevsky district and the fire has reached two settlements: residents of Krasnouralsky and Burlyksky are being evacuated as a precaution, with three temporary accommodation points set up in the district centre. Earlier the regional government information centre reported four fire sites covering 15,000–20,000 hectares and a threat to three settlements. Hot dry weather and gusts up to 12 m/s hamper firefighting; more than 80 people and 22 vehicles are deployed.

The Interior Ministry said on 7 September it had uncovered embezzlement of motor fuel belonging to the Moscow region police directorate. The organised group included EuroTrans board chairman Igor Martyshov (44.1% stake) and three subordinate executives, aided by Major General Sergei Malkov, deputy head of the Moscow region Interior Directorate and chief of logistics; Colonel Alexei Suyarov and Lieutenant Colonel Anna Levina are also implicated. All three police officers have been dismissed and detention is being sought. The case was opened under Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code. The company's shares fell as much as 6% intraday (closing around -4.9%); all ten exchange bond issues are in actual default (the first disclosed on 5 August), aggregate court claims exceed RUB 37 billion, and both AB Rossiya and Sberbank have signalled bankruptcy filings.

The Moscow Arbitration Court case file lists two claims filed by the Industry and Trade Ministry on 3 September against JSC Ural Works of Civil Aviation: RUB 4.32 billion and RUB 517.89 million, about RUB 4.8 billion in total. Details are not disclosed; both the company and the ministry declined to comment. UZGA is developing the Baikal light multi-purpose aircraft and the Ladoga turboprop regional aircraft, intended to replace the An-2, Yak-40, An-24 and An-26.

An update to the 6 September report that she had reached the fourth round: on 7 September Andreeva won 5:7, 6:4, 6:3 to reach the US Open quarter-finals for the second year running, where she will face the No. 25 seed. She has already won Roland Garros in 2026.

Roscosmos said on 7 September that the Progress MS-33 cargo craft undocked from the Poisk module of the ISS Russian segment at 18:18 Moscow time, was deorbited, entered the dense layers of the atmosphere and broke up; remaining debris fell in a non-navigable area of the south Pacific. The craft had been part of the station since March, docking manually on 24 March, and had delivered over 2.5 tonnes of cargo.

In a press release Ozon said that in January–July 2026 the average total spend by a seller on all platform services equalled 24.73% of the sale price; the mandatory sales commission averaged just 1.54% (the published nominal range is 1%–52%, flattened in practice by bonus points and discounts), while average logistics spend was 7.5%. Six out of ten sellers paid no more than 1.3% commission, about 20,000 of 700,000 entrepreneurs paid 9% or slightly more, and 25,000 sellers kept total spend below 15%. The platform attributes the spread to category specifics, promotional intensity and seasonality. What this means for Chinese sellers: do not price off the published nominal commission table — real cost depends on category, promo intensity and whether you use platform logistics; self-shipping and off-platform traffic can keep total cost under 15%, while heavy use of platform fulfilment and promotion pushes it close to a quarter of the sale price, so the pricing model must separate commission, logistics and promotion.

The same Ozon disclosure shows H1 2026 e-commerce revenue of RUB 523.9bn (+45% y/y), order volume up 78% y/y, active buyers at 69.2mn (+14%) and more than 700,000 active sellers. What this means for Chinese sellers: order growth (+78%) far outpaces buyer growth (+14%), so expansion is driven by purchase frequency rather than new customers — acquisition-led tactics are yielding less, while repeat purchase and basket management deserve more investment. With over 700,000 sellers on board, intra-category competition will keep intensifying.

Pavel Lyulin, head of the retail real estate association ATER, said the association will ask the Industry and Trade Ministry to allow marketplace pickup points and mini-warehouses inside vacant shopping-mall space; the proposal is already before a joint ministry working group with the platforms and a formal letter will be filed in coming days. Four formats are envisioned: 150–300 sq m micro-hubs, 300–700 sq m district logistics nodes, 700–1,500 sq m mini-fulfilment centres, and city reserve hubs of up to 5,000 sq m. For context, mall food courts closed three times more often than they opened in H1 2026. What this means for Chinese sellers: if adopted, in-city forward stocking and pickup coverage should improve, creating an opportunity to pre-position goods closer to buyers under the FBO model; but no storage or last-mile tariffs have been published and it is unclear whether foreign sellers will have access, so wait for the ministry's formal response before reshaping inventory strategy.

Citing foreign-trade expert Tatiana Vinnitskaya (Custom bureau), Kommersant reports that parallel imports peaked at about $6bn per month in 2022, averaged $1.9bn per month in 2025 and fell to roughly $1bn in January 2026 — no longer the main mass-market channel, now used mainly for selected foreign brands, premium and built-in niche models and original spare parts. The mass segment has shifted to direct imports from Asia and Turkey, contract manufacturing and local assembly. Meanwhile Chinese supply has expanded sharply: about 2.45mn refrigerators and over 3mn washing machines were shipped to Russia in 2025, versus roughly 1.1mn and 580,000 in 2021. Main routes are sea freight via Russian ports, rail, and trucking through Kazakhstan. The expert also notes Chinese banks have tightened checks, often requesting contracts, invoices, certificates of origin and logistics documents — physically shipping goods from China is now often easier than getting the payment through. What this means for Chinese sellers: the higher the share of direct, fully documented sourcing, the more stable clearance and settlement; grey parallel-import economics keep deteriorating, so premium categories dependent on them (Western brands, built-in appliances) will keep getting costlier — do not baseline your pricing on grey-channel costs.

The Finance Ministry has drafted amendments to the law on customs regulation changing how customs payment recovery decisions are appealed. Today an appellant must post a bank guarantee or cash deposit equal to the assessed amount to suspend enforcement; the draft requires the security to also cover interest and penalties accrued during the appeal, and extends the guarantee term from seven to nine months. It also extends from three to five years the period during which customs control can be resumed after an appeal is upheld. The Association of Customs Lawyers objected in a 4 September letter, arguing that small and mid-sized businesses will either have to pull large sums out of working capital or abandon disputes altogether, and that old shipments will face prolonged uncertainty with price and origin having to be proven years later. The ministry confirmed receipt and noted the draft is open for public discussion until 11 September; the Federal Customs Service said the framework is unchanged but specific proposals are welcome. What this means for Chinese sellers: suspending a customs decision will cost more, and records for past shipments (pricing, origin, logistics documents) will need to be kept for at least five years; consider submitting comments before 11 September and audit your declaration basis and document retention now.

According to retailer M.Video, Russians bought 10.3mn large home appliances in H1 2026 (+7.8% y/y), but market revenue fell from RUB 239bn to RUB 236bn (-1.5%). By category: dryers +23.1%, freezers +19.2%, refrigerators +15.6%, washing machines +13.5%, built-in hobs +9.9%, dishwashers +8.7% — while washing machine revenue fell 0.6% and hobs 6%. The average unit price dropped about 8.6%: refrigerators from RUB 40,400 to RUB 36,000, washing machines from RUB 33,400 to RUB 29,300. The mix shift is starker: front-loading washers under RUB 21,400 went from 14% to 33% of units, and dishwashers under RUB 18,500 from 8% to 20%. By units the top five are Weissgauff, Haier, Gorenje, Indesit and LG; by value Haier, Gorenje, Weissgauff, LG and Indesit — no dominant brand (long tail takes 37% of units and 29% of value). What this means for Chinese sellers: demand is intact but the price band is moving down — build assortments around the RUB 20,000–30,000 core with clear, perceptible features; brand premium is weakening so value-for-money entry works, but budget for after-sales and spare parts, since repair-service turnover rose 51% over three years as consumers fix rather than replace.

Alexander Peremyatov, co-chair of the retail real estate association ATER, said more than half of local apparel and footwear chains in shopping centres have no new collections, which will drive a sharp drop in footfall. He expects a significant share of troubled Russian fashion brands to close in late 2026 – early 2027, calling it a natural-selection phase after the wave of domestic brands that entered the market from 2022. Brands already in difficulty include Desport, O'STIN, Modis, Zenden and Gloria Jeans, and most mall closures are domestic fashion brands. What this means for Chinese sellers: the retreat of local chains frees up apparel and footwear share online, especially in mid- and low-priced basics and seasonal categories; but competitor destocking will trigger short-term price wars, so build markdown headroom into apparel pricing from Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 and plan seasonal replenishment timing early.

Binance Investments Co. and the National Bank of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding: the exchange will open a group representative office in the country, obtain a first-category payment organisation licence, move part of its operations to Kazakhstan and serve a significant share of CIS and Eastern European clients through the country. The signing was attended by central bank governor Timur Suleimenov and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. The regulator said the project became possible after Kazakhstan reformed its digital financial asset (DFA) rules and introduced the new payment-organisation category, allowing new payment and financial services alongside banking ones. What this means for Chinese sellers: another potential legal digital payment route via Kazakhstan — useful for those selling across several CIS markets and looking for non-bank settlement channels. But an MoU is not a launch: currencies, fees and timelines are undisclosed, and the compliance status of crypto channels inside Russia remains ambiguous, so it should not become your primary repatriation path.

A source in the Indian government familiar with summit preparations told TASS that BRICS is looking for practical mechanisms to reduce trade transaction costs, with discussions on settlement in national currencies and central bank digital currency platforms representing a search for ways to make bilateral trade cheaper. He stressed these measures are seen as a supplement to existing global payment and settlement systems, are not directed against any specific country, and are conducted independently within the finance ministers and central bank governors track. The 18th BRICS summit will be held in New Delhi on 12–13 September; Indian media earlier reported that India may present a concept for seamless cross-border digital payments and CBDC adoption at the summit. What this means for Chinese sellers: if local-currency settlement and CBDC interlinking actually materialise, settlement friction and intermediary costs between Russia and China could fall; but this is still agenda-level technical discussion with no mechanism or timetable, so do not adjust your receivables setup on this basis yet.

Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Roman Chekushov, speaking to TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (held in Vladivostok on 1–4 September), said Russian online retail may grow 18%–20% in 2026, with about 20% growth in the first half. He stressed growth remains in double digits, though slightly below last year. This is the ministry's first explicit full-year range for online retail. What this means for Chinese sellers: the official view confirms the online market is still expanding in double digits, but also confirms deceleration — the phase where rising tide lifts sales is ending, and further growth will come from category choice and operations rather than market beta; budgeting on 18% rather than 20%+ is the safer assumption.

Kokoc Group, using a 21-category sample for June 2025 – July 2026, estimates combined Ozon and Wildberries turnover at RUB 5.4tn, of which Moscow accounts for just 26.3% and the regions over 70%. Among large regions, Krasnoyarsk leads on growth (+10.2%, RUB 253.9bn), followed by Voronezh +9.5% (RUB 388.1bn), Tyumen +8.8% (RUB 227.3bn) and Yaroslavl +8.3%; Moscow grew only 6.7%, while St Petersburg and the North-West, the largest non-Moscow cluster at RUB 950.3bn, grew just 0.6%. Average tickets differ little: Voronezh RUB 1,701, Rostov-on-Don 1,676, Krasnodar 1,664, Tyumen 1,659, versus RUB 1,606 in Moscow and the Moscow region. By category outside Moscow: auto goods 80.2%, sports and leisure 77%, construction and renovation 75.9%, apparel 75.4%, home appliances 73.5%. Pickup-point growth has slowed to 24% a year in megacities while holding at 50%–62% in the regions. What this means for Chinese sellers: shift assortment and ad spend out of Moscow, prioritising auto goods, sports, construction and apparel; regional average tickets are not below Moscow's, so there is no case for automatic discounting down-market; and with regional pickup points still expanding fast, FBO stocking in regional warehouses will deliver a bigger speed advantage.