Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has come under fire for a private meeting he held with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after traveling to Moscow on holiday to meet him.
Schröder said in a lengthy interview with German media that he had nothing to apologize for his friendship with Putin, whom he met last week during a visit to the Russian capital.
Schröder has come under fierce criticism for his business ties to Russian state gas company Gazprom. He was one of the driving forces behind the construction of two pipelines in the Baltic Sea to carry gas to Europe, one of which was halted after the invasion of Ukraine. The other, Nord Stream 1, is delivering only 20% of the expected level of gas.
Schröder is facing an investigation by the Social Democrats, of which he has been a member since 1963, over his ties to the Kremlin and his refusal to distance himself from Putin and could still be expelled from the party.
In a five-hour interview with Stern magazine and broadcaster RTL, he gave no direct insight into the Russian leader’s mindset. However, he said after his discussions with Putin that he believed the conflict with Russia was “solvable” but required more negotiations – which Germany and France should lead – and greater Western sensitivity to the “real Russia’s fears of being surrounded’ by hostile states that ‘fed on historical events’ and were ‘unfortunately valid’.
Looking to the future, Schröder recommended an Austrian-style neutrality status for Ukraine and a Swiss-style cantonal arrangement for what he called the “more complex” Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. He said both sides should show a willingness to compromise.
But he will obviously not be drawn to talk about the atrocities committed by Russian troops since the beginning of the last stage of the conflict, including the massacre in Bucha, the deaths of thousands of civilians across the country, the occupation of the eastern and southern regions, the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainians and claims that the Kremlin is trying to eradicate the population.
On the dispute over why only a fifth – or 30 million cubic meters per day – of the expected amount of gas is currently flowing through the Nord Stream pipeline, Schröder said the blame lay at the door of Germany’s Siemens, which he blamed for the failure to supply recently serviced turbine in Russia.
But according to the German government and Siemens, Moscow is to blame for refusing to accept delivery of the turbine, which was recently transported from Canada to Germany under a special permit allowing for a temporary suspension of sanctions against Russia.
“We would have seen 60 million cubic metres, so double the amount flowing now, if the (Nr 2) turbine was available. That’s up to Siemens as far as I understand,” he said. The same explanation for why the turbine remains blocked at the Siemens Energy factory in Mülheim an der Ruhr was given by Putin himself.
On Wednesday, the site was visited by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who hoped to use the occasion to, as he put it, “call Russia’s bluff”, stressing that the turbine stasis was down to Moscow.
Schröder earned scorn on social media and in government circles for insisting in the interview that the simple solution to Germany’s energy needs – as it faces a winter of inadequate gas supplies – would be to activate Nord Stream 2, whose construction was completed before it was scrapped by the German government in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
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“The simplest solution would be to start operating Nord Stream 2,” Schroeder said. “It’s done. If it gets really difficult in terms of gas, we have this pipeline, and with both pipelines together, there will be no problem with supplies to German industry or to German households.
The German government has no plans to activate the pipeline.
Asked why he refused to distance himself from Putin, Schröder replied: “I would ask, how would it help anyone if I personally distanced myself from Vladimir Putin? … Maybe I can even be useful. So why should I apologize?’
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