Scholz's party says it is ready to improve relations with “Putin's friend” Schroeder

Scholz's party said it was ready to improve relations with “Putin's friend” Schroeder Irina Martsiyash

The new General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Matthias Miersch, has expressed his readiness to reconcile with former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who found himself in a scandal over his ties to Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin after the start of the full-scale invasion.

Matthias Miersch said this in an interview with Stern magazine.

Scholz's party is ready to improve relations with Schröder

When asked whether Schröder should remain in the ranks of the Social Democrats, the party's General Secretary answered in the affirmative.

We should not think in black and white categories. I can pay tribute to his life's work… even if I have a fundamentally different view of Putin and the attack on Ukraine,” he said.

In addition, Miersch said that Schröder “achieved a lot” as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, recalling the refusal to participate in the Iraq war, the reform of school education and the legalization of civil partnerships for same-sex couples.

To a remark about Schröder's ties with Russia, the SPD Secretary General responded that current Chancellor Olaf Scholz is ready to talk to Putin, and “negotiations and containment are two sides of the same coin.”

Gerhard Schröder was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and leader of the SPD party from 1999 to 2004. After he was removed from his post as head of government, he worked for many years in Russian energy companies and is still considered a friend of Putin.

Among other things, Gerhard Schröder met with the head of the Kremlin in Moscow a few weeks after the start of the full-scale war, and then again in July 2022. After each meeting, he assured that Russia was interested in ending the war.