The Russian State Duma passed the so-called “platform economy” bill regulating marketplaces and other digital platforms on July 26, according to The Bell citing Duma proceedings, but the final version watered down most proposed restrictions, marking it a legislative win for major e-commerce platforms.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, Russian legislators are preparing a package of laws regulating platform or "gig" economy workers, as well as measures preventing cyber fraud.

The law introduces new definitions and a registry for “digital intermediary” platforms connecting consumers and sellers and/or service providers, such as marketplaces, aggregators, and delivery services, alongside transparency rules and partner identification requirements. 

Russia's largest e-commerce players were actively pushing back against new regulations in the segment.

While the original draft aimed to rein in dominant players like Wildberries and Ozon, which have come under regulatory and anti-trust pressure, the most substantive clauses such including liability for counterfeit goods and mandatory sales offer transparency were removed from the bill. 

Marketplaces will now only be obliged to inform tax authorities about sellers and maintain basic consumer standards, according to The Bell. 

“Nothing serious [hindering e-commerce] was left in the law. Everything that could have helped the market was cut by Wildberries’ lobbyists,” a major e-commerce market participant told The Bell.

Notably, Wildberries holding such considerable lobbying power shows Kremlin’s tacit approval for the controversial change of ownership in Wildberries.

In 2024 Wildberries was rocked by controversy surrounding a merger deal with Russ Group, an outdoor advertising operator reportedly controlled by billionaire Dagestan senator Suleiman Kerimov that is a tenth of the size of Wildberries. 

As followed by bne IntelliNews, in 2025, as the case seems to have settled down, Wildberries starts to venture into new verticals. Recent reports suggested it could launch its own MVNO and an advertising data platform, as well as expand in foodtech.

Analysts surveyed by the publication suggest that lobbying by e-commerce marketplaces, backed by research from the Higher School of Economics (HSE), helped persuade lawmakers to avoid "overregulation" that could suppress the sector’s GDP contribution (estimated to grow from 5.5% in 2024 to potentially 10% without interference).

According to HSE estimates, the total turnover of digital platforms reached RUB12 trillion in 2024. To compare, Russia’s e-commerce market alone in 2023 increased by 28% year on year and reached a total of about RUB6.4 trillion ($70.3bn).

The bill establishes a registry for such intermediary digital platforms and requires all sellers and partners working with intermediary platforms undergo verification via the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA) or state registries.

Marketplaces must also comply with product sorting rules in the search results. Should the products be filtered by price by the e-shoppers, cheaper items must appear before pricier ones, even if the latter are ads.

Platforms must share seller information with tax authorities and disclose product labelling data, while the oversight will be shared between the antitrust agency (the Federal Antimonopoly Service that had already been active in monitoring e-commerce) and the consumer rights authority (the notorious Roskomnadzor agency).

The Bell reminds that tax evasion was previously rampant on e-commerce platforms, as sellers fragmented their businesses and declared themselves self-employed to avoid paying the VAT. Still, e-commerce platforms avoided any direct obligation to fight counterfeit or tax evasion, with the regulators retaining all responsibility for that.

The Bell also notes that this legislative victory for e-commerce marketplaces comes amid major reshuffling in the sector, with ownership stakes shifting to figures linked to Vladimir Putin’s long-time ally, sanctioned billionaire Yury Kovalchuk.

Kovalchuk is reportedly among Yandex’s new co-owners, following its asset split with founder Arkady Volozh. Yandex’s assets include the Yandex.Market platform. The Bell also claims that a 28% stake in e-commerce operator Ozon Holdings sold to venture investor Alexander Chachava will eventually benefit Kovalchuk’s structures.

bne IntelliNews closely follows the trend of strategic e-commerce acquisitions that is putting the control of the internet into state’s hands. Earlier this year Russia’s state-owned Rosselkhozbank agricultural bank has acquired a 50% stake in Avito, the country’s largest classifieds platform.

As a reminder, Russia also recently introduced a "national messenger" ran by a subsidiary of state-controlled tech and internet major VK, while threatening to ban Meta's WhatsApp messenger.