Controversies and allegations, at the center of the former chancellor Gerhard Schröder. His defensive words are at the heart of the battle Wladimir Putin. “An absurd defense”: The accusation came from the chairman of the SPD. Saskia Eske, who asked Schröder to leave the SPD. The resignation from his posts at the Russian oil company Rosneft and on the North Stream shareholders’ committee “would have been necessary to save his reputation as an even more successful former chancellor, but unfortunately he didn’t follow that advice,” Esken complained in the radio interview Deutsch.
“Gerhard Schröder – the SPD leader who has been accused again – has been acting exclusively as a businessman for years, and we should stop seeing him as an elderly statesman, as a former chancellor. His defense of Putin against war crimes charges is downright absurd.”
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The sanctions requested by the mayor of Kyiv
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko is demanding sanctions from the West against former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He said so in an interview with Bild, which was published on the front page of the tabloid. “Anyone who continues to work for the war criminal Putin must be severely punished,” he says. Schröder is part of the “Putin system,” he adds, “and for this reason shares responsibility for the slaughter of women and children in Ukraine.” This is the reaction to the former Social Democrat Chancellor’s interview with the New York Times, who said he would only give up his posts with the Russian energy giants if Putin stopped gas supplies to Germany and Europe.
War in Ukraine, former Chancellor Schröder speaks again: “I do not regret my connections to Putin”
April 24, 2022
The embarrassing case of the former chancellor is adding fuel to the fire in a phase that already sees the Social Democrats in great difficulty after the attacks by the Ukrainian Zelensky on President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, uninvited in Kyiv because of his previous Russia policy. And in connection with the strong pressure on Olaf Scholz, according to many, too cautious about the delivery of heavy weapons. “The SPD has no ‘Putin problem’ – Esken replied at a press conference –.
Schröder’s defense
“Non fare mea culpa”: Despite fierce criticism that has made him a pariah in his country, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has no regrets, having maintained close ties with Vladimir Putin and lucrative posts at various Russian energy companies that almost make him a million dollars a year. “Everyone has agreed for 30 years, but now everyone suddenly knows more than the others,” he states in an extensive interview with the New York Times, which reconstructs his political parable.
Schröder assures that he has “always served German interests” and “did what I can, at least as long as a part trusts me”. But this part is not Berlin, but the Kremlin. The former chancellor says he opposes Germany’s Russian energy embargo, recalls his heavy reliance on Moscow’s gas, and says he will only resign if Putin turns off Germany’s methane tap. That won’t happen,” he assures. But if that were the case, then I would resign,” he confirmed, without specifying which role he was referring to.
Schröder believes that war is “a mistake” and that “peace must be established as quickly as possible”. “Putin is interested in ending the war, but it is not easy, there are some points that need to be clarified,” he stresses. As for the Bucha atrocities, he believes they need to be investigated, but believes the orders did not come from Putin but from lower-level authorities.