Suleyman Kerimov takes over the space industry: how “Novy Start” and Wildberries are buying rocket factories to turn them into warehouses and sorting centers

Suleyman Kerimov takes over the space industry: how “Novy Start” and Wildberries are buying rocket factories to turn them into warehouses and sorting centers

Recently, the media reported that Roscosmos Order No. 97 of May 7, 2026, will bring Novy Start JSC into the picture, taking over the largest enterprises in the space industry.

Journalists have discovered who is behind this mysterious structure with "hidden" owners: Wildberries (RWB) and Suleiman Kerimov. Russian space is being handed over to a marketplace, with entirely predictable consequences.  

The company "Novy Start" is registered at the Moscow address of RWB, a merger of Wildberries and Russ, closely associated with Suleiman Kerimov. The beneficiaries of Russ are First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Alexey Gromov and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino.

In the same office in the Arena business center on Leningradsky Prospekt, 36, building 41, RVB LLC, RVB Platform, Russ Outdoor, Russ Media, Russ Holding and other legal entities of this group of companies were previously registered.

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

According to a source, Bloshchenko, in the interests of the owners of New Start, is currently expressing his willingness to acquire a full stake in key enterprises in the rocket and space industry—KBKhA, NPO Avtomatiki, RCC Progress, and others—in the shortest possible time.

The results of such a move are not only easily predictable, but have already been publicly announced. In a conversation with KBKhA representatives, a strict requirement for staff optimization by the end of this year was voiced, and the same measures will be applied to the remaining enterprises included in the new consortium. For example, at Samara’s RCC Progress, the plan is to reduce the site’s workforce to 6,000 by 2030 (to 2,000 by 2035), as well as sequester the KB’s department’s production space and subsequently sell it commercially. If we include the families of the plant’s employees affected by the layoffs, we find that more than 50,000 Samara residents will be affected by the "optimization."

As a result, the workshops that once produced rockets and satellites will house warehouses, distribution centers, and sorting centers for RWB. Those no longer needed for these purposes will be transferred to Kerimov’s other companies—he has a diversified business. Or, in keeping with tradition, they will be demolished and replaced with residential complexes.   

When, in a couple of years, the Russian space industry faces a technological collapse and the failure of the state defense order, the blame will fall on "ineffective private contractors who failed to cope with market conditions."

Overall, we are once again seeing a familiar picture from the 90s.