Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder Apparently, he can only imagine resigning from his post for Russian energy companies if Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts off gas to Germany and the European Union. In an interview with the New York Times published on Saturday, he said that if it came to that, “I would resign.” However, he did not explicitly say which post he was referring to.
However, Schröder stated that he did not expect such a scenario: “It will not happen.” Schröder is the head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy giant Rosneft and most recently also worked for the pipeline companies Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. He is heavily criticized in Germany because he has not parted with his posts despite the Russian attack on Ukraine. Four SPD associations have therefore applied for party exclusion proceedings against Schröder.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom also nominated Schröder for a supervisory board post in early February – shortly before the Russian attack on Ukraine. The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for June 30th. Schroeder made a noise New York Times open in the interview whether he will accept the nomination.
First statement since the beginning of the war
According to the US newspaper, it spoke twice to the former Chancellor and SPD leader in his hometown of Hanover. It is the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war that Putin’s longtime friend has spoken out in an interview.
Schröder said he was again ready to mediate in the Ukraine war. “I’ve always represented German interests. I’ll do what I can. At least one side trusts me,” said the former head of the SPD and today’s lobbyist for Russian energy companies New York Times. A peace solution must now be reached as quickly as possible. “I think this war was a mistake and I’ve always said so.”
Schröder traveled to Moscow in March to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to his own statements, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was not informed about the trip. The 78-year-old Schröder did not comment on the details of the conversation with Putin in the interview and only revealed this much: “What I can tell you is that Putin is interested in ending the war. But that’s not that easy. There are a few points that need to be clarified.”
Meeting with Putin
According to the report, Schröder met Putin in the Kremlin and sat with him – like Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron a few weeks earlier – at a now famous six-meter-long table. He also spoke to Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky and the oligarch Roman Abramovich in Moscow.
According to Schröder, the initiative for the trip to Moscow came from the Ukrainian side, and the contact was made by the Swiss media company Ringier. The Ukrainian parliamentarian Rustem Umerov informed him about the Ukrainian positions at a meeting in Istanbul before the trip to Moscow. After the conversation with Putin, there was another meeting with Umerov in the Turkish metropolis. After that the contact was broken off. Schröder told the New York Times that he was ready to talk to both sides again.
He advocated maintaining relations with Russia despite the war of aggression against Ukraine. “You cannot isolate a country like Russia in the long term, either politically or economically,” he said. “German industry needs raw materials that Russia has. It’s not just about oil and gas, it’s also about rare earths. And these are raw materials that cannot be easily replaced.”