The reason Mr. Putin wants the former German prime minister to be a ‘mediator’ with Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at the weekend that the conflict in Ukraine could soon “come to an end”, and raised the prospect of negotiations with the European Union (EU) to establish new security arrangements for a post-war Europe.

The Russian leader told the press that he was ready to reopen communication channels with Ukraine and Europe, ideally through former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

“For me personally, Mr. Schroeder, the former German chancellor, is the preferred person,” President Putin said on May 9, when asked about whether he was willing to connect with Europe or not.

Former Prime Minister ‘determined to be friends with Russia’

Mr. Schroeder, 82 years old, was German Prime Minister from 1998 to 2005. As a young man, he rose from poverty by working various jobs and attending night school to become a lawyer, before turning to politics.

He then achieved many amazing advances in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and won the prime minister’s seat in 1998, overthrowing the 16-year monopoly of the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party led by Helmut Kohl.

During his time in office, he focused on reducing unemployment and rebuilding the German economy, while introducing a controversial package of laissez-faire labor and welfare reforms.

He advocated limiting nuclear power, a decision that gradually made Germany dependent on fossil fuels from Russia, especially gas. This decision caused many consequences for Berlin after the war in Ukraine broke out, when Germany had to spend a lot of money to cut off gas supplies from Russia.

The German economy became stagnant during Mr. Schroeder’s second term, causing the SPD to lose the 2005 election and forcing him to leave the chancellorship. On December 9, 2005, 17 days after leaving office, Schroeder received a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who asked him to chair the board of Nord Stream, the Russian-controlled company in charge of building the first undersea gas pipeline directly connecting Russia and Germany.

“Are you afraid of working with us?”, Mr. Putin asked jokingly. Mr. Schroder appeared hesitant, because the Nord Stream pipeline project was agreed upon in the final weeks of his prime minister’s term. But former chancellor Schroder eventually accepted the offer, because he was one of the project’s strongest supporters.

He also held a seat on the board of directors of Russia’s state-owned oil and gas corporation Rosneft before giving up this position in 2022, when the war in Ukraine broke out.

However, Schroder still maintains a close relationship with President Putin. Since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine, the former German chancellor has gone against the views of most Western leaders and faced a wave of criticism at home.

“He took advantage of the reputation and influence of the prime minister’s position and turned himself into a representative of Russian interests to get rich,” former German environment minister Norbert Rottgen said of Schroder.

The German Parliament in May 2022 stripped former Prime Minister Schroeder of his privileges, such as being granted an office from the state budget, after he refused to publicly condemn Russia.

However, Schroeder still affirmed that he “did not make any mistakes” and that he always supported the idea of ​​being friends with Russia. “As prime minister, I really tried to promote relations with Russia,” he said.

Relationship with President Putin

Mr. Schroeder took office as Prime Minister during Mr. Putin’s first presidential term and the two sides have maintained a warm relationship over the years.

In 2004, the former German chancellor called the Russian President “a true democrat” and affirmed that he “completely believes that President Putin wants to turn Russia into a democratic country and he is doing it with strong belief.”

In one of his books, Schroeder shared about his relationship with the Russian leader, who was a National Security Committee (KGB) agent in East Germany in the 1980s and was very fluent in German.

“The most important thing in a friendship is language compatibility,” Mr. Schroeder said. “It makes everything easier.”

Mr. Schroeder criticized Western moves to impose sanctions on Russia and remove the country from the G8 group. He also supported the Kremlin’s argument when comparing Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula with NATO’s intervention in Serbia’s Kosovo in 1999, an event that he helped lead when he was German prime minister.

The former German leader is said to have attended President Putin’s birthday party in Moscow in 2014, just a few months after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.

European response

President Putin’s proposal to let former Prime Minister Schroeder mediate negotiations between Russia and the EU quickly faced opposition from European officials.

These officials expressed concern that Mr. Schroeder did not have the necessary level of objectivity to act as an intermediary. According to them, this proposal is just another Russian plan to divide the Western alliance.

A mediator “cannot be Mr. Putin’s close friend,” Michael Roth, former SPD MP and Chairman of the German Foreign Affairs Committee, told the newspaper. Daily Mirror.

German Minister for European Affairs Gunther Krichbaum said that former chancellor Schroeder did not have enough credibility to be an “honest broker”.

“He is certainly strongly influenced by Mr. Putin. Close friendships may be reasonable anywhere in the world, but they do not make one an unbiased intermediary,” Krichbaum said.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on May 11 also spoke out against President Putin’s idea.

“Bringing Mr. Gerhard Schroeder as a mediator was Mr. Putin’s idea. I believe they are quite close to each other. Gerhard Schroeder will not represent Europe,” Foreign Minister Tsahkna said.

EU senior representative for foreign policy Kaja Kallas also dismissed the idea that former Prime Minister Schroeder would be the person connecting Europe with Russia to fill disagreements.

“If we give Russia the right to appoint someone to negotiate on our behalf, then you know, that would be a very unwise decision,” she told reporters when attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium. “Since Schroeder used to lobby for Russian state-owned companies, he will be in a position to play football and blow the whistle.”