Russia E-commerce Intelligence Daily 2026-09-11

In an interview with Vedomosti, United Russia chairman and deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that despite a huge number of sanctions Russia's banking system is stable and citizens' money faces no threat; the armed forces' needs are fully met by contract soldiers and volunteers, so there is no need for mobilisation.

On the evening of 9 September Vladimir Putin met in the Kremlin with First Deputy Interior Minister and head of the migration service Andrey Kikot. Kikot reported that about 100,000 people had been deported over a year and a half, 75,000 of them forcibly; Putin confirmed that administrative deportations rose by 85%.

Presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the summit motto is strengthening resilience, innovation, cooperation and stability, and that the grouping marks its 20th anniversary. Eight heads of state will attend - Russia, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, China, South Africa and Ethiopia; the UAE will be represented by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Brazil's Lula will miss the summit due to elections and his delegation will be led by the foreign minister. A business forum opens on 11 September with a Russian delegation of about 300; the main session is on 12 September and the BRICS Plus/outreach session with 13 partner countries on 13 September.

Dmitry Peskov said an energy truce with Ukraine is not being discussed in any substantive way, arguing that Kyiv strikes civilian and social infrastructure and has thereby opened a Pandora's box. Russia's ceasefire terms remain those set out by the president at the Foreign Ministry two years ago, while the situation on the ground keeps worsening for Ukraine. He added that once preparations for the next round become substantive, the UAE and Abu Dhabi will be on the agenda as host, and said the Kremlin currently has no contacts with Europeans.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russia is looking for export routes for its grain beyond the Black Sea and Tallinn does not consider the use of Estonian ports acceptable. If pressured, Estonia is ready to impose its own sanctions, and it will keep working with Latvia and Lithuania on a regional or Europe-wide solution. Latvia banned Russian grain transit in August 2026 and Lithuania is weighing similar measures.

The yuan traded at 12.53 rubles on the Moscow Exchange as of 19:00, down 13.5 kopecks. The Central Bank set the official dollar rate from 11 September at 84.3508 rubles (down 1.11 rubles) and the euro at 98.2856 (down 96.69 kopecks). Markets await the Central Bank board decision on 11 September, with most analysts seeing a hold at 14% as more likely than a 25 bp cut. Overnight RUONIA fell 3 bp to 13.95%.

Amid the escalation between the US and Iran, attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthi takeover of the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha, the November Brent contract stood at $106.76 a barrel at 19:00 (+5.5%) and WTI at $101.37 (+5.6%). Brent briefly moved above $108 during the day, its highest since May.

The MOEX index closed at 2,308.93 (+2%) and the RTS index at 862.31 (+3.3%). Rosneft (+6.5%), Novatek (+5.8%), Gazprom (+4.7%) and Sberbank (+2.8%) led the gains, while Norilsk Nickel (-1.3%), Rusal (-1.1%) and Yandex (-0.4%) fell. Trading volume in index shares reached 75.89 billion rubles.

According to the Central Bank, international reserves stood at $753.5bn on 4 September versus $774.2bn on 28 August, a weekly drop of $20.7bn. Federal Customs Service data show the January-July trade surplus rose 13.3% to $89.2bn, with exports up 12.4% to $263.4bn and imports up 12.0% to $174.2bn, bringing total trade to $437.6bn (+12.3%).

Murmansk region began heating on 4 September and covered most towns by 8-10 September. Arkhangelsk region has fully started the heating period in four municipalities, having allocated 4.6 billion rubles for winter preparations. Yamal-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi began supplying social facilities on 1 September, with 100% readiness of utilities. Four northern districts of Krasnoyarsk Krai are already heated and 85% of boiler houses in the Siberian Federal District are ready; Yakutia has launched heating in 23 municipalities, and Magadan and the Katanga district of Irkutsk region start on 11 September.

According to the fisheries information agency, in early September sockeye caviar retails at 21,600-29,900 rubles per kg, chum at 17,200-26,900, pink salmon at 18,600-26,100 and coho at 18,900-21,200. VNIRO data show 94,449 tonnes of salmon caught in Russia as of 9 September; Kamchatka had landed about 56,000 tonnes by 8 September, nearly five times less than last year and the worst figure in the peninsula's history. Some 2,600 tonnes of red caviar entered circulation between 20 May and 7 September.

Pupils at a school in the Kanevskaya district of Krasnodar Krai sought medical help with signs of poisoning on 10 September; several minors were hospitalised and are not in danger. The district prosecutor's office opened an inquiry on the instruction of the regional prosecutor's office, and investigators opened a criminal case under Article 238(1) of the Criminal Code (provision of services that do not meet safety requirements).

Compared with the 14 dead reported on 9 September: rescuers found one more body, two climbers remain unaccounted for, and the search was suspended due to weather and will resume on the morning of 11 September. On the evening of 6 September an avalanche from Mount Mizhirgi in the Bezengi gorge buried a group of 33 climbers; the Investigative Committee has opened a negligence case.

Governor Alexander Khinshtein said the first drone strike on the apartment block caused no casualties, but as emergency crews arrived Ukrainian forces deliberately hit the building twice more. A woman born in 1947 sought medical attention with shrapnel wounds and a second person is preliminarily reported injured. No fire broke out and about 500 residents of two buildings were evacuated.

According to the regional operational headquarters, a drone detonated at an enterprise in Novy Oskol and a man died at the scene from his injuries; several other people suffered shrapnel wounds. In Grayvoron, the Valuysky district and Shebekino people were wounded and a garage, industrial premises, a truck and the roof of a commercial building were damaged. RIA Novosti reported 13 wounded earlier in the day; the death toll figures match.

The Gagarin District Court of Moscow sentenced former Rusnano executive Andrey Kushnarev to nine years in a general-regime colony, fined him 76 million rubles and barred him from managerial posts in commercial organisations for two and a half years. The court granted Rusnano's civil claim in full, for 7.5 billion rubles. It found that between April 2013 and March 2021 Kushnarev and accomplices embezzled more than 7.5 billion rubles allocated to the MRAM project to build magnetoresistive RAM production in Russia.

At the Innoprom.India exhibition, the United Aircraft Corporation signed agreements to supply 85 Il-114-300 turboprops to Indian carriers - 50 to Pinnacle Air and 35 to Sleek Aviation - plus a memorandum to set up a training centre with a full-flight simulator at Sleek. UAC CEO Vadim Badekha said the first firm contracts are planned before the end of the year and estimated India's ten-year requirement at about 100 SJ-100s and more than 100 Il-114-300s.

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov chaired a meeting of the government subcommission on the uninterrupted functioning of key industries and told federal agencies and regions to do their utmost to build site protection for refineries and speed up repairs, and to complete a digital fuel-balance monitoring system for rapid redistribution of volumes. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak recalled that the export ban on gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, tax-code changes to facilitate imports and the temporary authorisation of K2-K4 fuel grades remain in force.

Russia's Karen Khachanov reached the US Open semifinals when his Belgian opponent Alexander Blockx retired with health problems while trailing 6:2, 7:5, 3:2. It is Khachanov's second Grand Slam semifinal after the Australian Open. He will face world number two Alexander Zverev for a place in the final; Zverev leads their head-to-head 6-3, with the match scheduled for 22:00 Moscow time on 11 September.

The International Skating Union announced on 10 September that, following individual assessments, Kamila Valieva, Mark Kondratiuk and ice dancers Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin no longer meet the requirements for neutral status and are barred from international competitions in the 2026/27 season. The decision may be appealed. The ISU had earlier admitted Russian and Belarusian athletes in neutral status from the 2026/27 season and granted it to Valieva in August.

According to Tochka bank calculations based on Mpstats data, by end-August 2026 97.4% of Wildberries sellers used the FBS model (shipping from their own warehouse), up 42.3 percentage points in two months, while the share using FBO (platform warehouse) fell from 94.9% to 62.8%. At Ozon the FBS share rose 9.8 points to 73.1% and FBO fell 24.9 points to 66.6%. Industry players note that FBS commissions are higher (46.5% vs 41.5% for FBO in the beauty category) and switching adds 20–100 RUB per unit plus transport costs, while FBO delivers on average two days faster. What it means for Chinese sellers: the platform-warehouse route for fast-moving SKUs has effectively broken down — you need your own leased space and must re-run unit economics including higher commissions and logistics.

On 10 September Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim met Tambov region governor Yevgeny Pervyshov to discuss restoring the Kotovsk warehouse, redeploying laid-off staff and supporting more than 2,000 Wildberries sellers in the region — Kim said many of them 'now have to rebuild their business processes'. Wildberries sales in Tambov region grew 34% in 2025 to 32.7 billion RUB. The warehouse was first hit on 18 July and struck again on 26 August, after which it burned down completely. What it means for Chinese sellers: damage to a warehouse in central Russia shifts fulfilment to other regions, so lead times and stock allocation for the central belt need re-planning before the peak season.

A study by the AC RIR analytical centre based on hh.ru data found that median offered pay for delivery workers in Russia reached 125,550 RUB per month in Q2 2026 (+23% y/y), with vacancies up 124%. Couriers became the highest-paid of five operational staff categories; retail accounts for 72% of demand and transport/logistics for 19%. In Moscow median pay reached 140,000 RUB (+32%). Analysts attribute the rise to labour shortages and the lowest migration inflow in 15 years; the trend is expected to continue to year-end but slow. What it means for Chinese sellers: last-mile cost is being systematically pushed up — FBS sellers should lock in courier rates ahead of the peak season and budget for higher delivery costs.

Uztemiryulkonteyner, the Uzbek Railways container operator, announced the first block train from China to Iran via Uzbekistan: 55 containers entered via the Khorgos–Altynkol crossing and are moving through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into Iran via the Sarakhs border station. The route is over 6,000 km with an expected transit time of 14–16 days, carrying passenger-car components, consumer goods and consolidated cargo. It is seen as the basis for regular service on the China–Central Asia–Iran corridor. What it means for Chinese sellers: another overland route to Central Asia and Iran bypassing sea freight, but it does not pass through Russia and has no direct effect on Russian marketplace sales.

On 10 September Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, meeting Rospatent head Yury Zubov, instructed the agency to prepare legislative initiatives and tools to protect consumers from counterfeit goods on marketplaces and to keep the issue under personal control. Zubov said some goods have 'complex traceability' of IP rights: Rospatent plans to integrate with a set of information systems and from 1 March 2027 to launch a card authenticity check — platforms would match product name, licence and registration number against sector registers before publication, and re-check published data at least every seven days. Today a marketplace is not obliged to screen in advance and may take up to 30 days to act on a substantiated complaint. What it means for Chinese sellers: proof of brand rights will become a precondition for listing; after spring 2027 cards without confirmed licences and Russian registration will most likely fail the check.

The civil chamber of the Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction ruled in the dispute between Samsung Electronics Rus and Krasnodar resident Artyom Kosenko. A smartphone bought in summer 2024 for 98,000 RUB developed a manufacturing defect (intermittent sound loss) within 15 days; the Russian representative office refused an exchange, arguing the device was intended for another market and imported under parallel import. The cassation court sided with the buyer, upholding an award of the phone price, losses, penalty, moral damages and a fine totalling 370,000 RUB. The court's reasoning: consumer protection law prohibits making warranty claims conditional on circumstances unrelated to the defect. What it means for Chinese sellers: warranty liability for parallel imports falls primarily on the rights holder or its official representative, but the case shows tightening consumer protection — sellers should word their own warranty terms very precisely.

On 10 September presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing that the announced meeting between Vladimir Putin and the government scheduled for that day had been postponed — 'apparently by a week' — because of preparations for the BRICS summit (Putin flew to New Delhi that evening); he called it a routine postponement. Vedomosti had reported on 9 September that the meeting was to discuss using the Chestny Znak marking system to 'whiten' the economy. What it means for Chinese sellers: the decision on expanding mandatory labelling and tightening checks is delayed by about a week, giving sellers time to finish labelling current SKUs — but the policy direction is unchanged.

According to Yandex Market, the foldable iPhone Duo will start at 254,000 RUB for 256GB, 283,000 for 512GB and 338,000 for 1TB, with the most expensive version from 407,000; iPhone 18 Pro starts at 147,000 and Pro Max at 157,000. Meanwhile Ozon Selekt quotes iPhone 18 Pro at 199,900–399,900 and Pro Max from 219,900 to 449,900 — a spread of close to 2.3x for the same model across channels. In pre-orders Pro Max accounts for 61.5%, the 256GB and 512GB versions 37.5% each, and burgundy leads across capacities. The overall market is shrinking: 14.4 million smartphones worth 370 billion RUB were sold in the first nine months of 2026, down 11% in units and 5.9% in value. What it means for Chinese sellers: premium electronics remains one of the few high-ticket categories, but the huge price spread means intense comparison shopping; small unauthorised sellers have limited pricing advantage on new Apple products.

At the 7th Russia–China Forum, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said Russian automotive imports from China are gradually shifting towards components for local assembly rather than finished vehicles, attributing this to the development of joint production; he gave no specific figures. First Deputy PM Denis Manturov had earlier said the share of domestically made cars in sales is to reach 80% by 2035. What it means for Chinese sellers: the window for importing finished vehicles is narrowing while demand for components and consumables grows — auto-category sellers should shift focus to spare parts, accessories and electronics, where regulatory pressure is lower.

On 10 September the yuan closed at 12.53 RUB on the Moscow Exchange, down 13.5 kopecks from the previous close, as the rouble kept strengthening on higher oil (Brent $106.95, +5.95%) and reduced Ministry of Finance FX purchases. The CBR simultaneously set official rates effective 11 September: the dollar cut by 1.11 RUB to 84.3508, the euro by 96.69 kopecks to 98.2856, and the yuan at 12.5637. Most analysts expect the key rate to stay at 14% on 11 September. What it means for Chinese sellers: a stronger rouble is good if you settle in yuan (the same rouble revenue converts to more yuan), but if retail prices stay flat it squeezes rouble-denominated cost headroom — re-run your profit formula rather than assuming the August 86–87 RUB/USD level.

On 10 September Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said at the Russia–China SME business forum that bilateral trade has exceeded $200bn for a third consecutive year and has not shrunk 'despite external pressure'; he said trade 'returned to a path of steady growth' in the first half and a new record is expected for the year, without giving concrete sums. Kommersant earlier reported, citing Chinese customs data, that August trade rose 43% y/y to about $25.6bn. What it means for Chinese sellers: aggregate trade remains high and Russian demand shows no systemic collapse, supporting continued stocking — but currency and logistics costs are now the main margin compressors.

According to the Federal Customs Service, Russia's January–July 2026 trade surplus rose 13.3% to $89.2bn (from $78.7bn a year earlier); exports grew 12.4% to $263.4bn and imports 12.0% to $174.2bn, with total turnover of $437.6bn, up 12.3%. For comparison, full-year 2025 showed a surplus of $139.3bn (−8.2%), exports of $418.3bn (−3.7%) and imports of $279bn (−1.4%). What it means for Chinese sellers: imports have swung from contraction last year to 12% growth, indicating recovering restocking demand and a larger consumer-goods market — but also a heavier customs workload and more intensive inspections, so declarations need to be tighter.