Germany-linked retail chain supports the Russian army – investigation

Hyperglobus, the Russian subsidiary of German retail chain Globus, has been implicated in funding volunteer organizations that directly supply the Russian Federation’s military. Source: DW

One of the chain’s hypermarkets in Balashikha, near Moscow, transfers money to the local group “Volunteers of Balashikha.” The group regularly posts videos on social media showing the production of camouflage nets, as well as the purchase and delivery to the front of diesel generators, reconnaissance drones, food, and special ponchos that protect Russian soldiers from thermal imaging cameras and infrared sensors.

Hyperglobus does not deny transferring money to the organization, but claims the funding is allocated exclusively to “social projects for local residents” and is supposedly unrelated to supporting military operations. Representatives of the volunteer group did not respond to journalists’ requests for comment.

Although German chain Globus formally spun off its Russian business into a separate legal entity, Hyperglobus, the retailer’s German owners still control the company as its majority shareholder. According to the Business4Ukraine initiative, between 2022 and 2025 the European retailer contributed 86 million euros to the Russian budget in tax payments.

German businesses in Russia continue to grow: this year, the retailer opened a new hypermarket and increased sales by 6%, while in early October former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder joined the company’s supervisory board. Experts in business ethics from Dresden University of Technology strongly condemned Globus’s actions, stressing that European brands that continue operating in Russia are becoming direct accomplices in Russian aggression.

It is worth recalling that German companies supplied Russia with critical chemicals and industrial equipment for a long time, circumventing the international sanctions in force.