GErhard Schröder, ex-Chancellor and current lobbyist for Russian energy companies, is visiting Moscow on Thursday. There he wants to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin for peace in the conflict with Ukraine. That reported first “politico”. Accordingly, the Ukrainian government asked Schröder to mediate. From government circles, WELT has been confirmed that Schröder’s initiative has not been coordinated with the federal government. Accordingly, there was “no order and no coordination” with the Chancellery. According to WELT information, the SPD leadership was not in the know either.
Schröder and Putin have been friends for years. The ex-chancellor had come under massive pressure since the beginning of the war because he distanced himself neither from his well-paid posts nor from Putin. Among other things, he is the head of the board of directors of Nord Stream 2. He is also an employee of Gazprom and Rosneft. All Russian state companies.
Most recently, Schröder’s wife, So-yeon Schröder-Kim, indicated on Instagram that the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, had asked Gerhard Schröder to mediate.
Schröder-Kim could also be in Moscow at the moment. The reason for the speculation is a photo that she published on Instagram on Thursday evening.
However, according to the ambassador himself, he had no knowledge of an alleged mediation attempt by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the war between Russia and Ukraine. He was not aware of any trip by Schröder to President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, he told the German Press Agency on Thursday. And further: “I find it difficult to imagine that my government asked Schröder to do this.”
However, Melnyk had endorsed Schröder’s attempt at mediation in an interview a week ago. “He is one of the few here in Germany who may still have a direct line to Mr. Putin. There is no one who has something like that in Germany and the other European countries,” Melnyk told the “Bild”.
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich recently supported the party leadership’s urgent appeals to the former chancellor to clearly distance himself from Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine. A letter from party chairmen Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken together with eight former SPD leaders to Schröder was described by Mützenich on Thursday as a “clear signal”. According to him, there will be no separate appeal from the parliamentary group to Schröder. “Here the parliamentary group has no special opinion, but also no special measures to decide,” said Mützenich.
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In a letter last Thursday, Esken, Klingbeil and eight former SPD leaders called on Schröder to distance himself from Putin. “Act and speak clear words,” they demanded. The two current party leaders had previously called on Schröder to vacate his posts at Russian state-owned companies. So far, nothing has been known about a response from the former party leader. The local SPD association in Heidelberg has already applied for party exclusion proceedings against Schröder.
Ukraine: No progress on ceasefire
On Thursday morning in Antalya, Turkey, top political personnel from both countries met for negotiations for the first time since the outbreak of the war.
However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saw no progress towards a ceasefire. “We talked about a ceasefire, but no progress was made in this regard,” he told journalists afterwards. However, he had agreed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to “continue the talks in this format”.
Lavrov confirmed that Russia wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian foreign minister described arms deliveries from western countries to Ukraine as “dangerous”. “Of course, those who stuff arms in Ukraine must understand that they bear responsibility for their actions,” Lavrov said in Antalya. He was primarily referring to man-portable surface-to-air missiles.
Kuleba described the meeting as “difficult”. Lavrov told the “usual stories”. Kuleba said it was about a 24-hour ceasefire, and Lavrov wanted to talk about escape corridors. “We are open to diplomacy, but if that doesn’t work, we will protect our country and our people.” Ukraine “will not surrender,” the Ukrainian foreign minister reiterated.
Referring to the Russian bombing of a pediatric and maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol on Wednesday, Lavrov said the hospital had been used as a base by “Ukrainian nationalists”. “This maternity hospital was taken over by the Azov Battalion and other radicals a long time ago,” Lavrov said after meeting Kuleba. The nurses and staff were “put out in front of the door”.
According to Ukrainian sources, three people were killed in the attack on Wednesday, including a child. At least 17 employees were injured. The talks between the two foreign ministers in the Turkish port city of Antalya lasted one hour and 40 minutes. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also attended.
Olaf Scholz does not want to comment
Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not want to comment on a report about an alleged meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in Moscow. “I don’t want to comment on that,” the SPD politician answered a question on the sidelines of an EU summit in Versailles, France.
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