Nobody knows anything for sure – not the federal government, not the Ukrainian government, not the SPD either. But ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is said to be holding mediation talks with his friend Vladimir Putin.
Did former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder actually intervene as a mediator in the Ukraine crisis? Reports about an alleged visit by the former SPD chairman to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow are causing a stir. The news portal “Politico” and the “Bild” newspaper reported on Thursday that the trip had come about at the request of the Ukrainian government. So far, however, there has been no confirmation of this. On the contrary.
The federal government said it had not been informed about such a trip. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) commented on the reports about the alleged mediation mission on the sidelines of the EU summit in Versailles with a brief: “I don’t want to comment on that.” And the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, told the German Press Agency: “I don’t know anything about it. I can hardly imagine that my government asked Schröder to do it.” Even in Schröder’s party, the SPD, apparently nobody knew anything.
Gerhard Schröder: About the detour Istanbul to Moscow
Only Schröder’s wife Soy-eon Schröder-Kim posted a photo of herself with her hands folded and her eyes closed on her Instagram page in the evening, with St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow in the background. She did not comment on this picture. The image has been widely criticized on social media for being self-portrayal.
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According to the “Politico” report, Schröder-Kim actually accompanied her husband to Moscow – taking a detour via Istanbul. The trip was arranged by a Kiev politician. He is said to have contacted Schröder via the CEO of the Swiss publishing house Ringier, Marc Walder, to inform him that the Ukrainian government would like to see him as a mediator.
Putin reportedly agrees to meetings in minutes
On Monday, the Schröder-Kim couple first traveled to Istanbul, where the former Chancellor met a Ukrainian delegation. His subsequent request for a meeting with Putin is said to have been answered positively within ten minutes. Schröder and Schröder-Kim were then taken to Moscow on a Russian plane on Wednesday.
Schröder-Kim had already written on Instagram on Saturday: “You can be sure that whatever my husband can do to help end the war, he will do it, regardless of the ultimatums of the SPD or other organizations such as the DFB.”
Schröder has been heavily criticized for business relationships
The former chancellor is considered a longtime friend of President Putin, who launched a war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24. Schröder has long been criticized for his connections to Moscow, and against the background of the Ukraine war there was increasing pressure because he did not give up his business relations with Russia. Specifically, it is about posts at the natural gas pipeline companies Nord Stream 1 and 2 and at the Russian oil company Rosneft, where he is the head of the supervisory board.
The SPD leadership has already sent an ultimatum to Schröder to resign from his post at Russian state-owned companies. A “prompt” answer is expected, party leader Lars Klingbeil said a week ago. So far, such a response from Schröder is not known. Later, the SPD leaders Klingbeil, Saskia Esken and eight former SPD chairmen called Schröder in a letter to distance themselves from Putin. “Act and speak clear words,” they demanded. The local SPD association in Heidelberg has already applied for party expulsion proceedings against Schröder.
Ex-Chancellor hardly commented on the Ukraine war
The ex-Chancellor has only spoken publicly about it since the beginning of the war. On February 24, on the LinkedIn online network, he called on Russia to end the war and the associated suffering for the people of Ukraine as soon as possible. At the same time, he emphasized that the political, economic and civil society ties between Europe and Russia should not be completely severed if sanctions are necessary.
Source: Stern
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