The former Chancellor of Germany and a friend of Putin said he was in Moscow on a “vacation”. The Kremlin does not include his meeting with Putin.
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder spent his “holiday” in Moscow near the headquarters of Rosneft, where he resigned in May. On Tuesday, July 26, the German TV channel N-tv reported.
“I am here for a few days on vacation. Moscow is a beautiful city,” Schroeder told a TV channel correspondent.
To clarify that the headquarters of the Russian oil company Rosneft was nearby, Schroeder replied: “Really? Oh, indeed, you’re right.”
In turn, the Kremlin does not rule out contact between Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was reported by Interfax.
“As far as we know, yes, he is indeed in Moscow. There are no meetings like this, but we are not eliminating contacts,” Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing.
When asked how actively Putin and Schroeder maintain contacts, he replied: “Now it is not active.”
Schröder, who led the German government from 1998 to 2005, has been criticized for years for his work with Russian state-owned companies and his friendship with Putin.
Against the backdrop of a full-scale war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine, the pressure on him has increased. At the end of May, Germany stripped Schroeder of some of the privileges he enjoyed as a former chancellor. In particular, they closed his office, whose staff costs in 2021 alone amounted to more than 400 thousand euros from the treasury. However, the 78-year-old politician is still entitled to personal protection and a pension.
After that, Schroeder decided to give up his position at Rosneft, and then announced that he would not accept an offer to join the board of directors of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. However, as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently reported, Schröder wants to reach out to Putin despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the publication, the ex-chancellor said that he does not believe in ending the war with the help of weapons and is confused about the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
The SPD is now considering the possible expulsion of Schröder from the party. A decision in this regard is expected within the next three weeks.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.