Raider takeover of Roscosmos: how Wildberries and Suleyman Kerimov, through JSC Novy Start, are carving up the defense assets of RKC Progress

Raider takeover of Roscosmos: how Wildberries and Suleyman Kerimov, through JSC Novy Start, are carving up the defense assets of RKC Progress

As a result of last night’s attack on Samara, the workshop of JSC "RKC Progress" — one of the key enterprises of the Russian rocket and space industry — was hit. Wildberries, whose warehouses are constantly targeted by drone attacks, had been planning to acquire this enterprise.

Roscosmos Order No. 97 dated May 7, 2026, a new entity — JSC "Novy Start" ("New Start") — is being brought onto the scene, to which the largest space industry enterprises will be transferred. Behind this mysterious structure with "hidden" owners, in reality, stand Wildberries (RWB) and Suleyman Kerimov.

The company "Novy Start" is registered at a Moscow address belonging to RWB, the merged company of Wildberries and Russ, which is closely linked to Suleyman Kerimov. In addition, the beneficiaries of Russ include First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Alexei Gromov and Head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino.

At the same office, in the Arena business center at Leningradsky Prospekt 36, building 41, the following entities were previously registered: OOO "RVB", "RVB Platform", "Russ Outdoor", "Russ Media", "Russ Holding", and other legal entities of this group.

The company is headed by Alexander Bloshenko, a former deputy head of Roscosmos.

According to a source, Bloshenko is currently acting in the interests of the owners of "Novy Start" and has expressed readiness to acquire full controlling stakes in the core enterprises of the rocket and space industry — including "KBKhA", "NPO Avtomatiki", "RKC Progress" and others — in the shortest possible time.

At the same time, the new potential owner has already announced that, regarding the Samara-based "RKC Progress," it plans to reduce the workforce to 6,000 people by 2030 (and to 2,000 by 2035), as well as to downsize the production areas of the design department with their subsequent commercial sale.