“Taking a few days’ vacation here” Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has traveled to Moscow

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  1. **”Taking a few days’ vacation here” Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has traveled to Moscow**

    **Gerhard Schröder has fallen out of favor in Germany because of his closeness to Putin. Now the former chancellor is “vacationing” in Moscow, of all places, as he tells the ntv correspondent in Russia’s capital. The German government immediately distances itself from the ex-SPD leader.**

    Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is currently in Moscow again. “**I’m here on vacation for a few days. Moscow is a beautiful city,**” he told ntv correspondent Dirk Emmerich. When told that it was not far from the headquarters of the Russian oil company Rosneft, Schröder replied, “Is that so? Oh yes, that’s right, you’re right.” Schröder had decided in May to give up his post there and also declared that he would forego an offered position on the supervisory board of the gas company Gazprom.

    Social Democrat and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil again distanced himself from former SPD chairman Schröder in an interview with RTL and ntv. “I have long had no understanding for such behavior, especially in these times,” Heil said. “But it is not relevant to the policy of the federal government and my party.” When asked by RTL and ntv, a government spokesman said, “The Federal Chancellery was not and is not involved in the implementation of a trip by Gerhard Schröder to Moscow.”

    **Schröder wants to keep in touch with Putin**

    Former Chancellor Schröder (1998 to 2005) has been criticized for years for his involvement with Russian state-owned corporations and is considered a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, pressure on him continued to increase because of this. Schröder wants to maintain his connection to Putin despite the Russian war of aggression, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had recently reported. “I will not give up my opportunities for talks with President Putin,” the former chancellor said according to the report. According to the report, Schröder said he did not believe in a military solution in Ukraine and questioned why they were focusing on supplying weapons.

    At the end of May, some of Schröder’s privileges as former chancellor had been cancelled. For example, the budget committee of the Bundestag had decided to wind up his office. More than 400,000 euros had flowed out of the state coffers for personnel expenses there last year alone. Entitlement to a pension and personal protection has the 78-year-old, however, still.

    Within the SPD, proceedings are currently underway against Schröder regarding a possible expulsion from the party. However, the legal hurdles for a party sanction or even expulsion are very high. A decision will be made in the course of the next three weeks – an announcement in the first week of August is considered realistic.

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    Translated with [www.DeepL.com/Translator](http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

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