From the point of view of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, “political failure” led to the Ukraine war. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of bipolarity between the Soviet Union and the United States, “we have not created a security architecture that reflects this changed situation,” said the SPD politician on Thursday at a conference in Kocaeli, Turkey. “And the war in Ukraine is one of the consequences of this political failure.” Schröder is considered a longtime confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is, among other things, chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian state energy company Rosneft. The former chancellor has been criticized for years for his commitment to Russian state-owned companies – against the background of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the pressure on him is increasing. At the beginning of March, the SPD leadership and Chancellor Olaf Scholz had asked him to resign from his posts at Russian state companies.
Schröder went on to say that many mistakes had been made by both Russia and Western countries in recent years. However, Russia’s security interests do not justify the use of military means, according to Schröder. Schroeder also said that everyone should do everything in their power to end this terrible war.
Schröder traveled from the Turkish metropolis to the Russian capital at the beginning of March, where he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to reports, he also met a Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul.