In the middle of the Ukraine crisis
Former Chancellor Schröder spoke to leading SPD politicians about Russia – Union criticizes “fatal signal”
His role in the Ukraine crisis is controversial within the SPD: Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is considered a controversial figure in the Ukraine crisis. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the year he met leading SPD politicians to discuss German-Russian relations. This is a thorn in the side of the Union.
Just last week, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder made headlines with his new job as Gazprom supervisory board member. Now it comes out: Schröder, who is controversial because of his activities for Russian energy companies, already exchanged views on current Russia policy with several SPD politicians at the beginning of January – including the former party leaders Martin Schulz and Matthias Platzeck.
The former Russia representative and current Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, Johann Saathoff, told the German Press Agency. He had invited to the meeting. In addition, the former member of the Bundestag Heino Wiese was there.
Gerhard Schröder spoke about “German-Russian relations”
According to the “Tagesspiegel”, Schröder met on January 5 with the parliamentary state secretary in the Ministry of the Interior and former Federal Government Commissioner for Russia, Johannes Saathoff (SPD). The topic of the conversation was the “Future of German-Russian relations and the situation of civil society in Russia”. According to the newspaper, the Economics Ministry told CDU MP Hauer that a “query among the departments” resulted.
According to “Spiegel”, the chairman of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and ex-SPD leader Martin Schulz, the former party chairman Matthias Platzeck and the honorary consul of Russia, Heino Wiese, a confidante of Schröder, were also present at the meeting. “The initiative for the meeting came from me as a parliamentarian and the meeting took place in Hanover,” Saathoff told the magazine.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project was “not an issue as far as I can remember,” Saathoff said. He was “about the developments in civil society in Russia”.
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Union criticizes meeting: “Fatal signal”
The Union faction reacted indignantly. “It is a fatal signal when the federal government seeks advice from Gerhard Schröder immediately before the inaugural visits to Kiev and Moscow,” said parliamentary director Thorsten Frei to the “Spiegel”. The impression is created that Schröder “influences the SPD to a considerable extent” on the Russia question. Frei calls on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to comment. “It is high time that Chancellor Scholz took action and clearly distanced himself from this indecent combination of politics and lobbying.”
The Russian energy company Gazprom announced at the end of last week that Schröder, a friend of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, had been nominated as a candidate for the supervisory board. He is already chairman of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, which is majority-owned by Gazprom, and chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian state-owned energy company Rosneft.
Schröder recently caused a stir by claiming that Ukraine was “saber-rattling” in its conflict with Russia. In the SPD, more and more politicians are distancing themselves from the former party leader.