{"id":79564,"date":"2026-05-11T08:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/79564\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T08:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:53:13","slug":"berlin-sceptical-as-putin-floats-ex-german-leader-as-ukraine-mediator-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/79564\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin Sceptical as Putin Floats Ex-German Leader as Ukraine Mediator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed longtime ally and friend, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as mediator in the Ukraine war — an idea that has been met with scepticism in Berlin.<\/p>\n

Asked on Saturday who he would like to help restart talks with Europe, Putin said he would \u201cpersonally\u201d prefer Schroeder, who led Germany from 1998 to 2005.<\/p>\n

JOIN US ON TELEGRAM<\/p>\n

Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Schroeder, 82, has remained close to the Kremlin leader long after leaving office, standing apart from most Western leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n

German officials reacted cautiously, saying they had \u201ctaken note\u201d of Putin\u2019s comments but viewed them as part of \u201ca series of bogus offers\u201d from Russia, government sources told AFP Sunday.<\/p>\n

One source said a real test of Moscow\u2019s intentions would be to extend the current three-day truce.<\/p>\n

Schroeder\u2019s stance has made him a controversial figure at home. He has never publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine, costing him several privileges normally granted to former chancellors.<\/p>\n

He previously held key roles in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil firm Rosneft, which he gave up in 2022.<\/p>\n

Some German politicians from Schroeder\u2019s own SPD party — a junior partner in Germany\u2019s coalition government — say this makes him unsuitable for any mediator role.<\/p>\n

Michael Roth, former SPD lawmaker and chair of the foreign affairs committee, said a mediator \u201ccannot be Putin\u2019s buddy\u201d, in an interview with Tagesspiegel.<\/p>\n

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\"\u2018We<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Topics of Interest<\/p>\n

\u2018We Pushed Him a Little\u2019: Zelensky Says Putin Now Ready for Real Negotiations<\/a><\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine \u201cpushed\u201d Vladimir Putin toward readiness for negotiations, though Russia continues intense frontline attacks. Kyiv is seeking a concrete format for talks while preparing a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange with US mediation. Zelensky warned that if Moscow resumes large-scale strikes, Ukraine will respond immediately, saying that any negotiations must deliver lasting security guarantees.<\/p>\n

He stressed that any mediator must above all be accepted by Ukraine. \u201cNeither Moscow nor we can decide that on Kyiv\u2019s behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others within the party, however, have been more open to Putin\u2019s suggestion.<\/p>\n

Quoted by Der Spiegel, the SPD\u2019s foreign affairs spokesman in parliament, Adis Ahmetovic, said the proposal needs to be \u201ccarefully considered\u201d with European partners.<\/p>\n

SPD lawmaker Ralf Stegner argued, in the same magazine, that \u201cif we don\u2019t want Putin and (US President Donald) Trump to decide Ukraine\u2019s future\u201d alone, Europe should seize every possible chance — however small.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should turn to the former chancellor. What do we have to lose?\u201d said Fabio De Masi, leader of the pro\u2011Russia left\u2011wing BSW party, speaking to AFP on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Others remain unconvinced, with Marie\u2011Agnes Strack\u2011Zimmermann of the liberal FDP warning there were \u201cserious doubts\u201d that the ex-chancellor was the right choice as a go-between.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed longtime ally and friend, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as mediator in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,190],"class_list":{"0":"post-79564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116555101439282219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}