Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group partnered three companies in Russia, including operator Megafon, in a bid to launch a new platform in the country.

The move will see Megafon, Russian Direct Investment Fund and internet group Mail.ru “inject new capital, strategic assets, leadership, resources and expertise to create an unmatched value proposition for merchants, consumers and internet users across Russia and the CIS (Russian Commonwealth), as well as accelerate the development of Russia’s rapidly growing digital economy,” the company said in a statement.

Alibaba will fold its AliExpress Russia unit into the venture. In total, the three parties will own a 52 per cent stake, while Alibaba will hold the remainder.

The agreement is expected to be formalised in early 2019 and will use Russia’s payments system Mir.