Gerhard Schroeder stated he might not see eye-to-eye with the Russian president politically, however this doesn’t have an effect on their relations
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has refused to denounce his long-time good friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whereas lamenting that the failure of the present German and French leaders to discover a diplomatic answer to the Russia-Ukraine battle.
In an interview with the Süddeutschen Zeitung newspaper printed on Friday, Schroeder, 79, who served as chancellor from 1998 until 2005, stated he nonetheless considers President Putin his good friend.
“Why ought to I conceal this?” the veteran politician requested, including that their private relationship had developed independently of politics. The veteran statesman defined that whereas he has “made it clear that I feel it was a mistake that the Russians began the warfare [in Ukraine],” he won’t now fake by no means to have been associates with Putin.
He recounted how he and his spouse So-yeon Schroeder-Kim traveled to Istanbul and Moscow on a “peace mission” final March. He tried to get Moscow and Kiev to make mutual concessions to cease the hostilities, however to no avail.
Regardless of his lack of success in brokering an settlement, the ex-chancellor insisted that the battle might be resolved by the intervention of sitting heads of presidency and presidents. He additionally expressed remorse that the present leaders in Berlin and Paris usually are not doing sufficient on this regard. Schroeder argued that the provision of but extra weapons is unlikely to finish to the hostilities.
Talking of his function on the helm of the corporate working the now-defunct Nord Stream fuel pipelines, and his refusal to vacate it after February 24, 2022, the previous chancellor burdened that previous to the battle, most in Germany had been pleased to make use of Russian fuel to gas the financial system.
In an interview with the German broadcaster RTL launched in June, Schroeder stood by his insurance policies towards Moscow throughout his time within the workplace. The politician maintained that breaking his ties with Russia now would hardly “do any good” and that he would preserve looking for “alternatives to speak to President Putin.”
The politician has been extensively criticized in Germany over his shut affiliation with Moscow, which noticed him stripped of parliamentary privileges final yr. A few of his fellow Social Democrats demanded his expulsion from the social gathering earlier this yr, however with out success.
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