Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder calls the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine contrary to international law, but warns against “demonization” Russia. “Of course, the war in Ukraine should not be respected, nor should it be put into perspective. It is contrary to international law and a violation of human rights,” writes the 81-year-old former chancellor in a guest article for the Berliner Zeitung. All diplomatic means would have to be used to stop the war.
“But I am also against the demonization of Russia as an eternal enemy,” added the SPD politician, who has been with the Russian president for years because of his long-standing friendship Wladimir Putin and activities for Russian oil and gas companies are criticized. “Russia is not the land of barbarians, but a country with a great culture and diverse historical connections to Germany,” writes Schröder in the guest article. The “German shame” remains that this country was brutally attacked by German soldiers in two world wars.
Schröder is also being harshly criticized in the SPD because of his friendship with Putin. Although he fought the war in the Ukraine a “fatal mistake,” he has not yet completely distanced himself from the Russian president. The SPD leadership therefore excluded him, but a party expulsion procedure against him failed. Immediately after leaving the Chancellery in 2005, he became an eager and highly paid lobbyist for Russia’s energy industry.
He still believes it is right, he wrote in the guest article, about what he pushed forward during his time as Chancellor: the safe and reliable import of inexpensive energy from Russia. “We need such forms of cooperation with Russia.” Today there is a lot of talk about military “capabilities,” but Germany and Europe primarily need “peacemaking capabilities,” says Schröder.
Schröder also warned of a loss of power for the EU, which is losing international significance with its current course – among other things because Russia and the USA are negotiating the future of Ukraine over the head of the EU, “but we should pay the costs of the war”. US President Donald Trump’s policies have fatal consequences for Europe. Trump is not only trying to annex Greenland, but also to bring the EU into new dependence on the USA. “The world is being reorganized, but the EU is only reacting because it no longer seems to be a strategic force, even after the celebrated free trade agreement with the South American Mercosur.”
