EU lawmakers have called for sanctions against Gerhard Schröder and other Europeans who refuse to give up lucrative board seats at Russian companies.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is set to leave the board of Russian oil giant Rosneft after public pressure.
Rosneft said on Friday that Schröder and Nord Stream 2 CEO Matthias Warnig had told the company it was “impossible to extend their powers on the board”.
Rosneft praised her “strategic vision” and her “significant contribution to the company’s international business”.
“Your role in the implementation of major infrastructure projects in Russia and Germany aimed at increasing the efficiency of Germany’s economy and its industry and the well-being of its citizens is invaluable,” Rosneft said in a statement.
Germany on Thursday stripped Schröder – chancellor from 1998 to 2005 – of official benefits over relations with Russia. Long heavily criticized in Germany for his ties to Russia, Schröder was stripped of his right to office in the Bundestag.
The decision followed a protracted attempt to get him to turn his back on President Vladimir Putin, which intensified after Russia sent troops to Ukraine.
Earlier this year, several office workers resigned and Schröder faced a wave of outrage from former political allies after the New York Times quoted him as saying a massacre in Bucha outside the Ukrainian capital “needed to be investigated,” but he believed the directions Killing non-Ukrainian civilians would have come from Putin, a longtime friend.
European Union lawmakers separately called for a non-binding resolution on the bloc to impose sanctions on Schröder and other Europeans who refuse to give up lucrative board seats at Russian companies.
Schröder, 78, is due to join the board of directors of Russian gas giant Gazprom in June.
After leaving office, Schröder worked from the Social Democratic Party for the Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft, among others.
