As of: March 28, 2024, 7:23 p.m
By: Momir Takac
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Former Chancellor Schröder does not shake his friendship with Putin. This could still be valuable in the only possible solution to the Ukraine war.
Hanover – Gerhard Schröder is heavily criticized for his friendship with Vladimir Putin. Above all because the former Chancellor maintains the relationship despite Putin's attack on Ukraine. While his party's leadership ostracizes him, Schröder believes the friendship will still be useful.
Former Chancellor Schröder: Friendship with Putin can help solve the Ukraine war
“We have worked together sensibly for many years. Maybe that can still help to find a negotiated solution, I don't see any other solution," said the former SPD politician in an interview with the
German Press Agency (dpa)
. The 79-year-old has been friends with Putin since his chancellorship from 1998 to 2005 and continues to work for the predominantly Russian companies that run the Nord Stream pipelines through the Baltic Sea. Even though he calls the invasion of Ukraine instigated by the Russian President a “fatal mistake,” Schröder does not back down from him.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder defends his friendship with Vladimir Putin. © picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler
When asked why he stuck to his friendship with the Kremlin leader despite tens of thousands of deaths and Russian war crimes in the Ukraine war, Schröder replied: "It's the case that this is one dimension that is another." It's been like that before It looked as if this personal relationship could sometimes be helpful in solving an extremely difficult political problem. “And that's why I think it would be completely wrong to forget everything that happened between us in politics in the past in terms of positive events. That’s not my style and I don’t do that.”
Schröder does not believe the Ukraine war will end with “total defeat”
Schröder attempted to mediate in March 2022, shortly after the start of the Ukraine war, when he traveled to Putin in Moscow after a conversation with the then Ukrainian parliamentarian and current Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Istanbul. The initiative failed at that time.
Today, Schröder would like to see a new attempt at mediation, but at government level. “France and Germany must take the initiative. It is obvious that the war cannot end with a total defeat for one side or the other,” he told the
dpa
.
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Schröder describes worries about nuclear war as “nonsense”
Schröder considers concerns that Putin, who repeatedly threatens to use nuclear weapons, will actually start a nuclear war to be “nonsense.” Russia will not attack any NATO country on the eastern flank, he said. In order to dispel such fears, serious consideration should be given to resolving the conflict, the former Chancellor recommended.
The Kremlin likes the statements. Good relations on a personal level like those between Putin and Schröder could help solve problems, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday (March 28), according to Russian news agencies. The two had shown this repeatedly at the time when Schröder was in office.
(mt/dpa)