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Vladimir Putin, Gerhard Schröder in Moscow (2018)
Photo: Alexei Druzhinin/dpa
AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla congratulated former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on his 80th birthday - and only acknowledged his closeness to Russia. He pointed out the birthday on Sunday afternoon on the His life's work will one day be completed. I would like to congratulate the former Federal Chancellor on his birthday!”
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is viewed retroactively as a mistake by both the governing parties and the opposition Union because it led Germany even further into dependence on Moscow for energy policy. This, in turn, strengthened Russia's economy and helped prepare it for the later attack on the entire Ukraine. Schröder continues to work for the majority Russian companies of the two Nord Stream pipelines.
Schröder was born on April 7, 1944 in Mossenberg in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and chairman of the SPD from 1999 to 2004. Because he did not break off his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia's attack on Ukraine and continued to work as a lobbyist for the Russian energy industry, the party leadership broke with him. However, a party expulsion procedure against him filed by several SPD branches failed last year.
In 2014, the SPD honored its former Chancellor and former chairman on his 70th birthday - shortly after the Russian annexation of Ukrainian Crimea - with a ceremony in the Berlin Art Museum Hamburger Bahnhof. That won't happen this time. Instead, Schröder will celebrate privately in Berlin on April 27th.
wit/dpa