Eurasia · Public record
Putin put German retailer Metro's Russian business under the temporary management of a company owned by its Russia chief.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday 28 September 2026 placing Metro Cash & Carry LLC, which runs the German chain's wholesale stores in Russia, and two other Metro companies, Metro Warehouse Noginsk LLC and Retail Property 5 LLC, under the temporary management of JSC UK Torg RUS, according to the decree as reported by Meduza. The Kremlin published the order that afternoon. Reuters, Bloomberg and AP reported the transfer the same day.
UK Torg RUS was registered on 8 September and is wholly owned by Johannes Tholey, the chief executive of Metro's Russian business, Reuters reported, citing Russian corporate data. The decree did not give a reason, Reuters and AP said.
Metro AG said it keeps formal ownership but has lost operational control. "Even though the ownership of METRO Russia formally remains with METRO AG, the decree means that METRO itself no longer has operational control," the company said in a statement on Monday. It said further effects of the decree were being analysed. Metro's Russian subsidiary said it was operating as normal, Reuters reported.
Why it matters
Metro entered the Russian market in 2001 and has 91 wholesale stores there with about 9,000 staff, the company said. Unlike many Western companies, it stayed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, citing its responsibility to employees and customers, Reuters reported. In the first nine months of Metro's 2025/26 financial year, its Russian sales rose 10.3% to €2.14 billion, about 8.7% of group sales, Euronews reported.
The decree came two days after German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Reuters reported. Germany said this month that it had concluded Russia was responsible for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport, and closed a Russian consulate and a Russian cultural centre in response. Moscow denied the allegations, Reuters said.
"The Russians are raising the pressure on Germany in their hybrid war," Stefan Meister, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Euronews.
What is reported
- Reuters (Moscow, 28 September; writing by Alessandra Prentice):
- Lavrov complained that he had learned nothing new from Wadephul.
- This month the Kremlin also transferred control of the Russian assets of Nestle and Auchan, saying that hostile actions by "unfriendly" countries played a role.
- AP (Frankfurt, 28 September):
- The order was posted on a government website. It follows similar steps against Nestle and Auchan under a 2023 decree aimed at businesses associated with "unfriendly countries".
- Temporary administration has led to local owners taking over the Russian businesses of Danone and Carlsberg at knockdown prices.
- Meduza, citing Russia's official legal-information portal (28 September):
- The decree gives UK Torg RUS control of a 100% stake in Metro Cash & Carry LLC.
- On 17 September, a decree put the Russian assets of Auchan, Nestlé, Lemana PRO (formerly Leroy Merlin) and FM Logistic under the temporary management of L.E.V. Management.
- Bloomberg (28 September):
- On the same day, Putin allowed Western Union to sell its assets in Russia.
- Euronews (with AP, 29 September):
- Russia responded to Germany's measures by closing the German consulate in St Petersburg.
- Meister said "the Germans could lose even more companies and assets in Russia, in order to raise pressure on the German government from the German business community."
- Metro AG (statement, 28 September):
- Since February 2022, Metro has taken a variety of measures to reduce the links between the Russian business and Metro AG.
What we don't know
- Why Metro, and why now. The decree gives no reason. The link to the Wadephul-Lavrov meeting and the Leipzig dispute rests on timing, as Reuters and Euronews present it.
- What "temporary" means. None of the reports gives an end date for the administration or sets out UK Torg RUS's powers.
- Tholey's position. The reports do not say whether Tholey set up UK Torg RUS with Metro AG's knowledge, or whether he still works for Metro AG. The company's statement names him as the owner without further comment.
- The cost to Metro. Metro says it is still analysing the effects. No write-down has been announced.
Inference (not a finding)
Handing the business to a company owned by its own local chief executive, registered three weeks before the decree, suggests the change was prepared in advance and aims to keep the stores trading under Russian control rather than to close them. Coming eleven days after the Nestlé and Auchan decree, it also points to Russia using Western companies' assets as leverage over governments that back Ukraine, as Meister argued.
What happens next
- Metro AG's assessment of the decree's financial and legal effects, which the company says is under way.
- Further decrees: whether more German or other Western companies are placed under temporary management.