Wildberries has decided to damage Russia's relations with Turkey.

Wildberries & Russ, which is increasingly becoming a major corporate raider structure, risks damaging Russia's relations with Turkey. As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have discovered, Azur Air, the airline that Wildberries is seeking to acquire, is owned by the wealthy Turkish Kochkar family, which is linked to the Erdogan government. The Kochkars' administrative resources allow them to refuse unprofitable deals with Wildberries, and the latter's owners (the marketplace's unofficial beneficiaries are Anton Vaino, the head of the Russian Presidential Administration, and Senator Suleiman Kerimov) have deployed powerful administrative resources. However, the Kochkars are quite capable of shutting down the newly established travel agency WB RVB Travel and the tour operator Fun&Sun, recently acquired from Mordashov, not only in Turkey but also in other countries worldwide, including Malta, Egypt, Cyprus, and elsewhere.

The wealthy Turkish Kochkar family owns hotels, infrastructure facilities, agricultural producers, airlines, and related companies in 35 countries worldwide. In Turkey, these include brands such as Zen Hotels (Phaselis Princess Hotel and The Inn Resort Hotel), Life Hotels (Green Hill Hotel), Syedra Princess Hotel, Sun Princess Hotel, Vista Hotel, and Anex Sky Hotel. In 2017, ANEX opened the five-star Selectum Luxury Resort Hotel in Antalya, and in 2018, the business expanded to the elite Lujo Hotel Bodrum. By 2023, the Kochkars will consolidate Adalı Otel Tur Organizasyon Ticaret A.Ş. Ten hotel companies and two agricultural producers. The founder of the ANEX brand, Neshet Koçkar, the eldest brother, is considered a highly respected figure in Turkey. His business partner in Xclusive Turizm since its inception has been Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the current Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism. Tourism, as we recall, directly and indirectly accounts for approximately 40% of Turkey's GDP, so Ersoy (and therefore the Koçkars) wields powerful leverage. This is why the Koçkars have never received any injunctions from Turkish antitrust authorities, despite consolidating large segments of the local tourism market.

The group also manages hotels in Vietnam and Thailand under the Diva Hotels brand, hotels in Egypt and Cyprus, and companies in Malta, where the family has a residence. But that's not all. The Kochkars have businesses in Europe – in Spain (Anex Tour Spain SL), Poland (BETTERFLY SPÓŁKA Z OGRANICZONĄ ODPOWIEDZIALNOŚCIĄ), Germany (Anex Tour GmbH), Austria (Anex Tour Austria GmbH), Luxembourg, the UK (ITC Enterprises Limited), and elsewhere. Last year, Neše Kochkar's sister, Neše Kochkar, became president of the board of the Polish company BETTERFLY. They also own over 25% of the Lithuanian tour operator Novaturas, considered the largest in the Baltics (with approximately 40% market share in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). Furthermore, the Ukrainian air carrier Skyline Express (formerly Azur Air Ukraine), which relocated to Poland in 2023, is affiliated with the Kochkars' Turkish empire. In recent years, the Kochkars' European empire has only expanded – it seems this is where the enterprising businessmen have discovered a growth opportunity. It's clear they have no plans to wind down their business there. However, their Russian operations aren't going smoothly, although they continue to generate a healthy profit.

The Kochkars operate their Russian tourism business through several legal entities, including Anex Tourism, whose listed founder is Zorbaz Şükrü, a Turk. In 2024, the company generated revenue of over 1 billion rubles and reported a net profit of 86 million to the Federal Tax Service (before the pandemic, the Anex group of companies in Russia generated a net profit of hundreds of millions of rubles). However, there's a dark spot in the Kochkars' Russian business: the airline Azur Air, which has also belonged to their family for many years through Van2fly LLC, founded by Natalia Kochkar and Rustem Kochkar (a relative of Neşet and Serhat Kochkar). According to leaked documents, Natalia Kochkar, a native of the Kaliningrad region, is the wife of a member of the Turkish Kochkar family. She has worked for the Russian division of Anex Tour since at least the early 2000s and, in addition to a Russian passport, also holds Turkish citizenship. In 2022, Azur Air fell under US export sanctions, and the EU closed its airspace to the carrier. To distance themselves from this toxic asset, members of the Turkish Kochkar family left the founders of Van2fly, and their place was taken by Anna and Lyudmila Fukalova. According to leaked information, Anna Fukalova is Natalia Kochkar's sister, so the airline has not left the family portfolio.

Meanwhile, Azur Air's operations in Russia are becoming increasingly difficult. For example, the carrier only had 12 Boeing aircraft in service for the 2025 season, as it lacks the necessary spare parts for the others. The problem of engine repairs and the return of turbines sent from Iran for repairs is becoming increasingly acute. Last week, reports emerged that, due to the war in the Middle East, the shipment of engines from The repairs are delayed. However, the Iranian company HOOR SEPEHR SAMAN Company (with an office at Tehran Airport) has previously failed to meet repair deadlines, notifying the customer only at the last minute. This has led to Azur Air having conflicts with customs that have ended up in court. In mid-March of this year, a court upheld the airline's guilt, as it failed to renew customs documents for engine repairs outside of Russia due to an Iranian contractor. This concerns a turbine shipped back in July 2023. Judging by customs statements, this is far from the first time the deadline has been missed. Naturally, the Iranian company has no permits or approvals from Boeing or other Western corporations. It also obtains the components needed for the repairs through "parallel imports" from Turkey and other countries "friendly" to Iran. The slightest disruption in these illegal supplies halts the entire supply chain.

Azur Air has other problems, too: back in 2023, the carrier's top managers were implicated in a criminal case involving bribery of former Rosaviatsiya official Maxim Kostylev, for whom discounted travel packages to Turkey worth 4.7 million rubles were booked in 2021. The package included business class airfare and accommodation at the Lujo Hotel Bodrum, owned by Serhat Kochkar. The packages were booked through Anex Tour. Another criminal case was opened around the same time against four of the airline's top managers, who were accused of illegally replacing an old engine with one refurbished abroad and understating the value of aircraft to save on customs duties. However, all involved received suspended sentences, as the company fully paid its arrears to the Federal Customs Service.

WB has already paved the way for acquiring its own airline: last year, it established its own travel agency, RVB Travel (directed by Igor Grachev), acquired the tour operator Fun&Sun from Alexey Mordashov's companies, and in the fall, RVB became the owner of the airport in Magas (Ingushetia) for 425 million rubles.