Schröder's celebration of Putin in Moscow raises German anger

In front of a stove, Gerhard Schröder stands together with Vladimir Putin. They shake each other's hands. Both are dressed casually, without a tie. They celebrate Putin's 74th birthday in Moscow.

Under the picture it says: "When Vladimir Putin read in the media that Gerhard Schröder was in Moscow, he invited his old friend home." It is the Kremlin's Telegram channel that posted the news.

Schröder had originally traveled to Moscow to visit the Globus department store chain. It is about a spin-off of the German Globus, which remained in Russia despite the war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022. Recently, Gerhard Schröder became a member of its management board.

The ex-chancellor is now being followed by German politicians.

"A shame for Germany. A betrayal of Europe. A disservice to peace," writes Green parliamentarian Katrin Göring-Eckardt on X.

Last year, Schröder refused to attend a parliamentary hearing on suspected irregularities surrounding the construction of the Russian-German gas pipeline Nordstream. Reason: health reasons, including burnout. Now German politicians heckle him for this.

"Gerhard Schröder, Germany's freshest pensioner. Too sick to participate in the hearing (very severe burnout), but fit to go to the war criminal Putin's birthday party," writes the liberal MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on X.

She also shares a film from the Globus department store in Moscow, where Schröder is herded around by smiling employees. For Kremlin propaganda, Schröder's visit means a complete hit, both in terms of domestic and foreign policy. For the Russian people, one can demonstrate that Russia is not isolated at all. The Western world can be frowned upon.

The Social Democrat Schröder, German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has maintained his friendship with Putin despite the bloody Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. As punishment, he has been stripped of several privileges, including his office in Berlin. But that hasn't deterred him.

The latest scandal is an embarrassing reminder for the German government of how long German-Russian relations remained intimate, even after the annexation of Crimea. Germany refused for the longest time to give up its dependence on Russian fossil gas. Many analysts believe that Germany has strongly contributed to Putin's perception that the West can be duped.

As early as 2022, then Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a so-called Zeitenwende, a turning point. But every time Schröder meets Putin, he pulls the rug out from under the new Russia policy. And the German government can do nothing.