Gerhard Schröder: Union politicians are demanding a counter

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Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Photo: Holger Hollemann/ dpa

There has been sharp criticism from within the Union of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's statements on the Ukraine conflict.

"To accuse Ukraine of "saber rattling" in the current situation is pure cynicism," said Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the Union faction in the Bundestag, in Berlin.

Schröder "irritates our neighbors and partners with his provocations" and contributes to "undermining hard-won trust".

“His amalgamation of business lobbyism and politics threatens to become a serious liability.

It is high time that Olaf Scholz contradicted his party friend, "said Frei.

Schröder had defended the German refusal to deliver arms to Ukraine and had clearly rejected Ukrainian criticism.

"I really hope that the saber-rattling in Ukraine will finally stop," he said in the podcast "The Agenda".

"Because what I have to hear there, also about blame being assigned to Germany, because of the reasonable cancellation of arms deliveries, that sometimes knocks the bottom out of the barrel."

Michael Roth speaks out

At the same time, the former leader of the SPD accused Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) of provocation by Russia because she had visited Ukraine before her first visit to Moscow.

The former chancellor does not expect a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"I do not believe that.

And I also do not believe that the Russian leadership can and does have an interest in intervening militarily in Ukraine.«

Foreign policy expert Michael Roth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, spoke from the SPD: "If 100,000 combat-ready Russian soldiers encircle Ukraine militarily, that is a concrete threat.

People who clearly state this and warn against it are not warmongers,” Roth said via Twitter.

Wanting to protect and defend oneself against it »has nothing to do with saber-rattling«.

Schröder has been friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he was Chancellor.

He is also a business lobbyist and acts as the head of the supervisory board of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.

The Russian daily newspaper »Kommersant« reported in 2020 that Schröder received compensation of 600,000 euros for his work.

In Germany, the 77-year-old has repeatedly been criticized for his commitment to the Kremlin-controlled companies Gazprom and Rosneft.

The former chancellor always emphasizes that this is a private matter.

til/dpa