Gerhard Schröder, who was German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has had a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two decades. Now the news portal Politico and the German mass-circulation Bild newspaper report he has traveled to Moscow and met with the Russian president on Thursday evening. According to the German Press Agency, the trip was not coordinated with the German government, which is headed by Schröder’s party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil said he had received no information on such a trip, but said that in his view any attempt to stop the war was good. It was only a few days ago that Soyeon Schröder-Kim, the current wife of former Chancellor Schröder, wrote on Instagram, “You can be sure that whatever my husband can do to help end the war, he will do.” On Thursday evening Schröder-Kim posted a photo showing her praying by a window overlooking St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Schröder’s surprise trip is another twist in the recent tragic story surrounding the former chancellor. Russia has been at war with Ukraine for 14 days. Two weeks in which the Social Democrat Schröder refused to distance himself from Putin and give up his lucrative supervisory board positions in the Russian gas industry. Since the war began, the former chancellor spoke out publicly only once. Two days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schröder took to LinkedIn to call on Russia to end the war as quickly as possible. However, the 77-year-old avoided holding Putin responsible. Instead, he wrote of “many mistakes” that had been made “on both sides.” Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller (l), Vladimir Putin, and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder traveled to Vyborg for the inauguration of the Nord Stream Project in 2011
Schröder makes a lot of money in Russia
Schröder opposes the idea for tough sanctions and urged not to completely cut the “remaining political, economic and civil society ties that exist between Europe and Russia.” He had already rejected sanctions after the annexation of Crimea, which he had, however, called illegal under international law in an interview in 2021. Gerhard Schröder has never made a secret of the fact that he makes good money in Russia. Immediately after he lost the 2005 federal election to the center-right candidate Angela Merkel, he switched from politics to the Russian gas business. Sea. Schröder masterminded the Nord Stream project together with Putin while he was still chancellor. Then he became head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company Rosneft and chairman of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, which built and owns the two parallel gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea.
Is Putin instrumentalizing Schröder?
About three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gerhard Schröder was also nominated for the supervisory board of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU), the chairman of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, suspected Kremlin calculations behind Schröder’s nomination. He said it was “to be seen as a move by Russia to divide the German government in its stance on stopping Nord Stream 2 as a potential sanction tool and thus to discredit Germany as a whole.” Critics saw it as a special way of saying thank you for the prospect of another lucrative supervisory board post whenSchröder then accused Ukraine of “saber-rattling” In mid-February, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Moscow for talks with Putin, the Russian president praised Schröder as a “decent person” whose nomination to the Gazprom supervisory board he supported. The work of such an “independent expert” will only benefit cooperation with Germany, he said. Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin enjoyed a theater performance in Hannover together in 2004
Putin, the ‘flawless democrat’
Schröder and Putin — this friendship has endured for more than two decades. It developed when Schröder was still chancellor and deepened despite mounting criticism of Putin’s expansionist policies over the years. In 2012, when Putin had himself re-elected Russian president and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) pointed to significant irregularities in the elections, the former chancellor defended his friend as a “flawless democrat.” Two years later, Gerhard Schröder celebrated his 70th birthday with Putin in Moscow. There are many in the SPD who have been skeptical about the friendship between Schröder and Putin for years. A skepticism that has given way to growing horror in recent weeks. Many of his old companions have tried to influence the former chancellor. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has called on Schröder to resign from all Russian firms. SPD co-chairman Lars Klingbeil is particularly under pressure. He once began his political career as an employee in Schröder’s constituency office in Hanover, and a personal friendship grew out of that collaboration. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Klingbeil wrote in a social media post, “You don’t do business with an aggressor, with a warmonger like Putin. As a retired German chancellor, you never act completely privately. Especially not in a situation like the current one.” In early March, Klingbeil and SPD co-chair Saskia Esken, along with eight former SPD leaders, drafted an unequivocal letter. “Act and say clear words,” wrote the comrades, who ultimately called on Schröder to make a public statement “unequivocally opposing President Putin’s bellicose actions as well.” The letter went on to say: “The gaze of many people is directed at you. And you decide for yourself these days, dear Gerhard, whether you want to remain a respected Social Democrat in the future.” There was no response from Gerhard Schröder. Gerhard Schröder’s refusal to distance himself from Vladimir Putin has drawn protest in Germany More and more rank-and-file SPD members have been calling for party expulsion for days, and some local chapters have already filed motions to that effect. Many of Schröder’s German business partners have already parted ways. Companies for which the former chancellor had worked as a consultant for years, and on whose supervisory boards or executive committees Schröder sat for years. Few give a reason. Berlin project developer Gröner, on the other hand, is an exception: “Mr. Schröder’s mandates by Russian companies and companies associated with the Russian state, whose business activities contribute extensively to the financing of the Russian state and its military actions, stand in the way of further cooperation with Mr. Schröder,” reads a press release from the company. The University of Göttingen is considering revoking Schröder’s honorary doctorate. The German Soccer Association wants to revoke the honorary membership of the former chancellor, who is a soccer enthusiast, and the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund has already done so.
Can Schröder mediate on Ukraine?
Whether Schröder can really influence Putin is difficult to assess. The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, suggested Schröder as a mediator. “He is one of the few here in Germany who may still have a direct line to Mr. Putin. There is no one who has such a thing in Germany and the other European countries,” Melnyk told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. He knew nothing about the former chancellor’s actual travel plans, Melnyk said Thursday. “I find it hard to imagine that my government asked Schröder to do this.” This article has been translated from German. While you’re here: Every Tuesday, TheTeCHyWorLD editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.