Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian assets of German wholesaler Metro AG placed under "temporary administration", in the latest and most politically charged state seizure of a Western company since Moscow began expropriating the businesses of countries that back Ukraine.
The decree and the handover
The presidential decree, published on the Russian government's website on Monday, 28 September, gives no reason for the move. It transfers control of Metro's Russian operations to a Moscow-registered company called UK Torg RUS, which corporate records show was established on 8 September and is wholly owned by Johannes Tolay, the chief executive of Metro's Russian business.
Metro AG, headquartered in Düsseldorf, said in a statement on Monday that it no longer had "operational control over its Russian subsidiary" and was analysing the implications. The company stressed that it still formally owned the business.
Metro's Russian subsidiary did not comment directly on the decree but said it was operating as normal and fulfilling all its obligations to shoppers at its retail outlets and online stores.
The scale of what has been taken is considerable: Metro entered the Russian market in 2001 and today operates 91 wholesale stores employing around 9,000 people. In its latest yearly report the company put its Russian sales at 2.6 billion euros for the 2024/25 financial year, with cash and cash equivalents of 152 million euros as of 30 June.
A month of corporate expropriations
Metro is far from the first victim. Earlier in September the Kremlin seized the Russian assets of Swiss food giant Nestlé and French retailer Auchan, saying that hostile actions by "unfriendly" countries had played a role in the decision. The former Leroy Merlin DIY chain was also placed under temporary administration, with control transferred to a firm called L.E.V. Management.
The seizures are carried out under a 2023 decree that allows Moscow to place businesses associated with "unfriendly countries" under state management — a legal fig leaf for what is, in practice, outright confiscation of private property from nations that support Ukraine.
Why Berlin is in the crosshairs
The timing points directly at Germany's support for Kyiv. The Metro decree followed a rare weekend meeting between Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Johann Wadephul on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York — the first such encounter since Russia's full-scale invasion began. Lavrov afterwards complained that he had learned nothing new from Wadephul, whose country remains one of Ukraine's staunchest backers.
Earlier in September, Berlin concluded that Russia was responsible for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport and ordered a series of retaliatory measures, including the closure of a Russian consulate and a Russian cultural centre in Berlin. Moscow denied the allegations and called them fabricated.
The price of staying
Metro was one of the few major Western companies that chose to remain in Russia after the 2022 invasion, a decision it said was based on its responsibility to employees and customers. That loyalty has now been repaid with expropriation.
The message to every Western boardroom is unmistakable: staying in Putin's Russia does not protect your business — it merely keeps your assets within reach when the Kremlin decides to punish your government. Russia has meanwhile made it deliberately difficult for firms to leave, requiring presidential authorisation for exit deals, or simply seizing the assets outright.
Each seizure also feeds the Russian war machine. Billions of euros in revenue, hundreds of millions in cash, and thousands of employees are absorbed into an economy that is now organised around sustaining the invasion of Ukraine. Economic warfare is not a side-show of this conflict — it is one of its main fronts.
The West spent years debating whether economic engagement would moderate the Kremlin. The Metro seizure, like the Nestlé and Auchan takeovers before it, is the answer: Putin treats foreign business as a hostage to be taken whenever a government stands with Ukraine. The only safe response is a full economic break with the aggressor — and full support for the country defending Europe's freedom.
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