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Olaf Scholz and Gerhard Schröder at the SPD party conference in Bochum in November 2003
Photo: Roland_Weihrauch / dpa
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again called on Gerhard Schröder (both SPD) to resign from his positions at Russian state-owned companies.
It was "completely unacceptable, at least impossible since the beginning of the war, for the former Chancellor to continue to perform these tasks," Scholz said in a ZDF interview on Monday.
But a chancellor "cannot give orders" to his predecessor, he added.
Despite the war in Ukraine, Schröder continued to work for Russian state-owned companies
Schröder has been heavily criticized for not giving up his posts at Russian energy companies despite the Russian attack on Ukraine.
He joined the pipeline company Nord Stream shortly after leaving government office in 2005.
He is still the chairman of the shareholders' committee there.
In addition, Schröder is the head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy giant Rosneft and is still registered in the relevant commercial register as the chairman of the board of directors of Nord Stream 2 AG.
He has been nominated for the supervisory board of the Russian gas giant Gazprom.
col/dpa