On his most recent trip to Russia, former Chancellor Schröder visited his friend Putin. Occasion: the Kremlin leader's 74th birthday. Reactions from home are not long in coming.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (l.) and Russian President Vladimir Putin: The meeting met with criticism. Photo: Kremlin
Berlin. After his visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday party in Moscow, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder came under massive criticism. The Green Party politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt and the chairwoman of the European Parliament's Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), described the visit as a disgrace. According to the Kremlin, Schröder celebrated his 74th birthday with Kremlin leader Putin on Wednesday.
Schröder was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. The 82-year-old is close friends with Putin and has been criticized for years because of, among other things, this close connection and his commitment to Russian energy companies. Since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Schröder has met with Putin repeatedly.
Kremlin: Putin invited Schröder
The Kremlin announced on the Telegram platform that Putin learned of Schröder's presence in the Russian capital from the media on Wednesday morning. “The President invited his old friend to his home,” it continued. Photos were also shown showing the two men smiling and holding their hands tightly around each other.
Before the party, Schröder visited a branch of the Russian branch of the German supermarket chain Globus in the Russian capital in the morning and gave a welcoming speech to the company's employees. He had previously been appointed to the company's supervisory board.
CDU politician: “Miracle healing à la Rasputin”
Göring-Eckardt wrote about Schröder's visit to Putin on Platform X: "A disgrace for Germany. A betrayal of Europe. A disservice to peace." But unfortunately she didn't expect anything else from him.
Strack-Zimmermann described Schröder on X as Germany's cheekiest pensioner. "Too sick for committees of inquiry (very bad burnout), but it's still enough for well-paid mandates in Russia and a birthday party at home with war criminal Putin. A disgrace beyond compare."
The head of the CDU social wing, Dennis Radtke, also criticized on X that Schröder was too sick for a committee of inquiry, but fit enough for Moscow, Putin and “a fresh load of rubles”. He added: “Miracle healing à la Rasputin with Gerhard Schröder”. In 2025, Schröder canceled witness statements before a committee of inquiry into the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Climate Foundation in the context of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline several times due to burnout.
On Wednesday, the day of Putin's birthday, Russia hit Ukraine for the first time this fall with one of the feared combined attacks with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj then spoke of at least 25 dead and over 100 injured and described the attack as a “birthday present for Putin”.
Related topics
Gerhard SchröderWladimir PutinUkraineRussiaNord Stream 2Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann
Putin brought Schröder into the conversation as a mediator
In May, Putin brought Schröder into play as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, Putin's statements were met with clear skepticism in the federal government. The Russian president ordered the large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 - and has not yet achieved his war goals.
After leaving politics, Schröder was active for Russian energy companies for many years, including as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of the Russian energy company Gazprom. The pipeline was completed at the end of 2021, but did not go into operation in February 2022 due to the Russian attack on Ukraine - the federal government under then Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) refused the operating license.
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