Russia E-commerce Intelligence

On the evening of 30 August, Ozon's press service said its sorting center and delivery hub in Belgorod had been hit: staff were evacuated, preliminary reports indicate injuries, and a fire broke out but has been localized. Ozon stated it has temporarily stopped delivering and accepting customer orders and has also stopped accepting goods from sellers in Belgorod and Belgorod Oblast; delivery and goods intake will resume once logistics routes are rebuilt. Practical takeaway for sellers: if your FBO/FBS intake or last-mile delivery runs through the Belgorod node, reroute to other hubs immediately; lead times and inventory turns for goods already in transit or in stock there should be recalculated as a force-majeure interruption. None of the reports mentions a compensation scheme for damaged seller goods, and there is no public information on that point.

Kommersant's 30 August report notes that Ozon warehouses have been under continuous attack since 22 August, with hits in Krasnodar Krai, Dagestan, Stavropol Krai, Adygea, Rostov Oblast and other regions. Vedomosti the same day added detail from the previous day: on 29 August two Ozon facilities in Rostov Oblast were affected — one was struck by a UAV, the other was undamaged but suspended anyway because of the security risk in its area. The implication for sellers is that this is a nine-day, multi-region corridor of risk across southern Russia and the North Caucasus, not a one-off warehouse incident. Concentrating FBO inventory in a single southern hub is now materially riskier; September stocking should be spread across several hubs while keeping an FBS ship-from-own-warehouse channel open.

Kommersant reported on 30 August that the government decided on 29 August to extend the export ban on diesel, marine fuel and gasoil for producers to 30 September 2026 inclusive (the restriction had been due to expire on 31 August). For other market participants the ban remains in force until 31 January 2027, and the gasoline export embargo runs to the same date, covering refineries as well. The official rationale is maintaining a stable situation on the domestic fuel market; Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said restrictions are to be lifted as the market recovers, since exports matter for refinery utilisation and for preventing product oversupply. In late August the Russian Fuel Union itself petitioned the government for the extension, arguing that while diesel is now selling at filling stations almost without interruption, availability for independent operators is limited and market pricing is not functioning properly. For sellers: diesel is the main fuel for line-haul trucking and last-mile delivery, so September rates for inbound deliveries to warehouses and peak-season stocking remain exposed to the fuel component — build a buffer for it when costing fulfillment.

The Central Bank of Russia published no new official rate set on Sunday 30 August, so the rates effective 29 August remained in force: USD 85.6007 RUB, EUR 99.6820 RUB, CNY 12.7335 RUB (CNY per 1 yuan in roubles; USD and EUR per 1 currency unit). The figures are identical to the previous coverage day, but this is not stale data — the CBR simply does not set new rates at weekends. For pricing, settlement and converting rouble proceeds back into yuan or dollars on 30 August, and when re-running the margin formula, use this set. The next set is normally published and takes effect on Monday 31 August, after which rouble-denominated costs may shift.