“In Russia there are free elections”

“There are free elections in Russia.” This is one of the statements made by former German Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder In a documentary, on the occasion of his 80th birthday this Sunday, in which he does not hide his friendship with the Russian president, Vladimir Putinand which has earned him so much criticism from the leadership of his party.

Since leaving office and becoming a lobbyist for the Russian energy sector, the former president, who led Germany between 1998 and 2005, has not spared criticism of the current leadership of his party. The last time this Friday when he called her “provincial” in an interview with the newspaper S.Z.. He accused his former party of having “lost its way” and to convey to voters that instead of workers, they only care about recipients of social aid, the legalization of cannabis or gender.

In the documentary released this week, Schröder refers to SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert as “poor guy.” “If I had been in the 15% (voting intention) I would have resigned immediately,” he stated, in relation to the unpopularity of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

[El Gobierno de Alemania cerca a Schröder: le quita su oficina y su personal por sus vínculos con Putin]

Schröder and the SPD leadership distanced themselves as a result of the ukrainian war. Your party urged him to break his relationship with Putin and different initiatives were even activated by local groups to suspend him as a militant, finally rejected by the SPD arbitration commission.

The former chancellor has “regretted” in successive statements about the war in Ukraine, although without condemning Russia and always defending his relationship with Putin.

During his time in the chancellery, Schröder gave the Russian president the rank of political ally and friend. As a result of these ties, the construction of the German-Russian gas pipeline arose. Nord Stream, agreed between Berlin and Moscow in 2005, shortly before being removed from the Chancellery by Angela Merkel.

A few months after that defeat, He went on to occupy positions on boards of directors related to the gas pipeline and other state-owned companies controlled by the Kremlin. A “revolving door” that has always bothered the SPD.

In May 2022, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and amid strong pressure, he resigned from his positions in the Russian oil consortium Rosneft, whose board he had chaired since 2017, and also from his nomination to join Gazprom.