After Gerhard Schröder's trip to Moscow, the SPD did not want to ask the former Chancellor about his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war.
"We will now make no attempts to find out anything about the motives for this trip," said General Secretary Kevin Kühnert in Berlin.
At party headquarters, no more was known about the trip than was reported in the media.
"If he thinks he has gained any insights there that are important for future political decisions by the federal government, then I think he has all the contact details at his disposal so that he can fall back on them," said Kühnert.
"As long as he doesn't do that, we have to assume that this is not a trip that is of great relevance for the political decisions that are now to be made by those responsible."
Schröder traveled to Moscow last Wednesday to hold talks with Putin about the Ukraine war.
The meeting is said to have taken place on Thursday.
As the "Bild" newspaper now reported, Schröder is said to have met the Russian oligarch and friend of Putin's Roman Abramovich there, as well as the former culture minister and Kremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky.
Nothing was known about the content of the talks.