Russia's war in Ukraine: Schröder: "At least one side trusts me"

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder can obviously only imagine resigning from his posts for Russian energy companies in one case: if Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts off the gas to Germany and the European Union.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Saturday, he says that he does not expect such a scenario.

But should it come to that, “then I would resign,” he adds – without explicitly saying from which post.

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.

Schröder has been close friends with Putin since he was chancellor (1998 to 2005).

In his first interview since the start of the Ukraine war, he makes it clear that he is still willing to use this good relationship to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

“I have always represented German interests.

I do what I can.

At least one side trusts me,” says the former SPD leader.

A peace solution must now be reached as quickly as possible.

"I think this war was a mistake and I always said so."

Conversations about football

Schröder traveled to Moscow in March to talk to Putin.

According to his own statements, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was not informed about the trip.

The 78-year-old Schröder does not comment on the details of the conversation with Putin in the interview and only reveals this much: “What I can tell you is that Putin is interested in ending the war.

But that's not so easy.

There are a few points that need to be clarified.”

According to the report, Schröder was received by Putin in the Kremlin like a head of state or government.

Like Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron a few weeks earlier, he spoke to the Russian President at a now famous six-meter-long giant table.

According to Schröder, the initiative for the trip to Moscow came from the Ukrainian side, and the Swiss media company Ringier established the contact.

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, after which contact was broken off.

Schröder told the New York Times that he was ready to talk to both sides again.

According to the newspaper's Germany correspondent, she met Schröder twice in his hometown of Hanover.

She describes how the former chancellor showed her a cell phone photo of a visit to Putin in Sochi on the Black Sea last fall, when Russian troops were already marching up on the Ukrainian border - Putin in ice hockey gear, Schröder in a blue shirt and jacket , both smiling.

When asked what the two are talking about, Schröder replies: "Football."

No admission of guilt

In the two talks, the former chancellor distanced himself from the war, but not from Putin, writes the New York Times.

Regarding the massacre in the Kiev suburb of Butscha, Schröder says: "It has to be investigated." However, he does not believe that the orders came from Putin, but from lower levels, the newspaper quotes him as saying.

Schröder advocates 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 says.

“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.”

Schröder defends the German energy policy of recent decades, which has made the country dependent on Russian gas.

He is surprised at the heated debate in Germany about it.

"They've all been there for the last 30 years.

And suddenly they all know better.”

For the SPD, the Schröder interview comes at the wrong time.

For weeks, the party has had to defend itself against accusations that it has placed too much emphasis on rapprochement with Russia in recent decades, while ignoring risks.

Chancellor Scholz rejected this as defamation and lies in a “Spiegel” interview this week.

He is drawn a "caricature of social democratic politics".

Above all, Scholz defended the détente policy of the SPD Chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt in the years 1969 to 1982. He did not mention the third SPD Chancellor Schröder.

In June, the Schröder issue could come to a head again for the Social Democrats.

That is when the general meeting of the energy giant Gazprom takes place, at which Schröder is to be elected to the supervisory board.

According to the New York Times, Schröder left open in the interview whether he would accept the nomination.

In any case, he has no guilt about his close ties to Russia.

"I'm not making a mea culpa (my fault) now," he says.

"It's not my thing."