Applause in Moscow: Gerhard Schröder visits a Russian supermarket

“I am very pleased to be here, to see this impressive market and the results of your work and to get to know you, my dear colleagues,” said Schröder during his visit. He justified the fact that he referred to the employees as colleagues based on his own past. After elementary school, Schröder completed an apprenticeship as a retail clerk. “So I’m a colleague,” said the former SPD politician.

Schröder advised employees to keep their nerve even when customers “always expect more than you can give” and to keep the company’s interests in mind.

Member of the supervisory board since September

Schröder has been a member of the Hyperglobus supervisory board since September 30th and is expected to support the company’s strategic development. The Russian branch of the German Globus Group was spun off in 2025, but continues to operate under the name Globus in Russia.

The owner is the German entrepreneur Thomas Bruchwho comes from the family that owns the German Globus Group. In May, Bruch took part in an economic forum in St. Petersburg with other German entrepreneurs and received criticism in Germany.

Close relations with Russia

Schröder has been under scrutiny for years because of his close ties to Russia and the president Wladimir Putin in criticism. The two have had a close relationship since Schröder’s chancellorship from 1998 to 2005.

After his political career, Schröder took on several positions at Russian state-owned companies. In May 2022, a few months after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, he took over as chairman of the oil company’s supervisory board Rosneft low. However, his contacts with Moscow and Putin did not end.

Behind Schröder’s involvement in Hyperglobus there is also an economically delicate situation for Western companies in Russia. The Russian government recently placed assets of foreign companies under state administration. The German trading group was among those affected Metro and the French retailer Auchan.

Hyperglobus is now one of the largest companies still operating in Russia with German owners. Schröder’s good contacts in Moscow could therefore also be strategically important for the company.