The ex-Chancellor avoids any public criticism of his longtime friend Vladimir Putin.
(Photo: imago images/SNA)
Gerhard Schröder remains true to his one-sided view of the Ukraine war. At a conference in Kocaeli, Turkey, he once again took sides with Russia, attributing Russian aggression to an alleged “political failure” on the part of the West.
Schröder claims that after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the bipolarity between the Soviet Union and the US, no security architecture was created that reflected this changed situation. For him, this is one reason why Russia is reaching out to Ukraine.
What Schröder is doing here almost borders on historical falsification. He acts as if the West has kept Russia small for decades or even threatened it. How did the Chancellor a. D. on it? Why doesn’t he want to see that there were very strong signals to Russia that it did not feel threatened.
In the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997, the alliance had renounced the permanent stationing of NATO troops on the territory of former Warsaw Pact states. So the West has already come a long way in meeting Russia’s security interests.
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With the war against Ukraine, the agreement is of course passé. Actually, however, the Founding Act had already lapsed years earlier, when Russia annexed Crimea in violation of international law.
To be clear: the aggressors are Russia and its President Vladimir Putin – and nobody else.
Unworthy of a former chancellor
The fact that Schröder does not get it off his lips shows once again which side he is on. Everyone knows that he is a friend of Putin and has worked for several Russian state-owned companies for years. So why should he position himself clearly against the war criminal Putin?
Schröder’s behavior is unworthy of a former Chancellor. Only a clear cut will help. All the privileges that Schröder enjoys as former chancellor belong to him. Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently called for a review of how his office is financed from taxpayers’ money. It’s time to finally get down to business.
It is also incomprehensible why Schröder has not yet appeared on Western sanctions lists. How can that be? Someone who is as close to Putin as the former chancellor and who works for Russian companies should have been put on the EU sanctions list so that their accounts can be frozen.
Even if Schröder doesn’t care about such punitive measures against him, which is likely in view of his stubborn and unreasonable nature, the federal government should fly the flag and campaign for it at European level.
Incidentally, it is also long overdue for the SPD to start expulsion proceedings against Schröder. This increases the pressure on the former chancellor. Perhaps Schröder will do the Social Democracy a favor and turn his back on it himself.
More: Four SPD associations apply for Gerhard Schröder to be expelled from the party.