Wildberries Under Fire for Alleged Employment of North Korean Workers in Moscow Warehouse

Russia’s largest e-commerce platform, Wildberries, announced the initiation of a pilot program to hire foreign laborers following the appearance of videos online that reportedly show North Korean workers at its warehouse in the Moscow region.

Earlier this week, two short clips surfaced in a group chat for employees at the company’s warehouse located in Elektrostal, allegedly depicting North Korean workers in purple Wildberries uniforms, as reported by the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel.

According to the Moskva news agency, a spokesperson for Wildberries stated on Tuesday, «The company adheres to all necessary regulations when employing foreign staff as part of this pilot program.»

Wildberries added, “We will decide on the program’s expansion based on the outcomes of the pilot,” without directly responding to the allegations regarding the workers identified in the videos as being North Korean.

The RTVI broadcaster indicated that unnamed Telegram channels suggested that «hundreds» of North Korean workers have recently been employed by Wildberries. However, the Moscow Times could not verify the source of these claims.

A UN Security Council resolution from 2017 prohibits North Korean workers from earning income outside of their country.

In early 2020, Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated it was unable to repatriate North Korean workers due to limited transportation options resulting from UN sanctions.

Additionally, a video released earlier this month by authorities in Vladivostok purportedly showed North Koreans working on a local construction site, according to reports from South Korean media.

Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his disapproval of the UN ban on North Korean labor, questioning, “What sort of threat do labor migrants pose, and to whom?”

Putin remarked during an extensive interview, “It’s unusual when individuals are prohibited from working or when their chance to earn a living is so curtailed that they cannot support their families.”

Since that time, intelligence agencies from South Korea and the West have reported that over 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been dispatched to Russia to support its operations against an unexpected Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. These two nations formed a defense agreement last year.

South Korea’s intelligence service asserted that North Korea continued to send «thousands» of workers to Russia utilizing student visas in 2024.

Additionally, data from the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed that out of nearly 9,300 visas issued to North Korean citizens last year, more than 8,600 were student visas, as reported by the Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram news channel.

The Russian Education Ministry indicated last year that over 130 North Korean students were enrolled in educational institutions in Russia.