Putin had a one-on-one meeting with the one he wants to mediate in the negotiations with Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a one-on-one meeting with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that was “pleasant and friendly,” Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Friday, according to Russian news agencies and Reuters.
“The discussion was friendly. It took place in the form of a tête-à-tête, face-to-face meeting,” said Ushakov.
“Honestly, I don't know any details. It took place in Moscow, in the Kremlin,” he added.
In a discussion with journalists, Ushakov said that Russian officials had numerous informal contacts.
“I can very well imagine that there are many informal contacts and we just don't know about them,” said Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy adviser.
Putin would like Schroeder as a mediator with Europe
Schroeder, a former leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), served as Germany's chancellor from 1998 to 2005, when he lost the election. He later worked for Russian state companies and cultivated a close relationship with Putin.
Asked at the beginning of May who is his preferred candidate for the resumption of dialogue with the Europeans, Vladimir Putin replied that he “personally” prefers Gerhard Schroeder. The Russian president's initiative has sparked conflicting political reactions in Germany.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels also rejected the idea of any role for Schroeder, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas saying it would allow the former chancellor to “sit on both sides of the table”.
The former chancellor was in the management of Rosneft
Schroeder's refusal to condemn Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has brought him into disrepute within the SPD, the minority party in Friedrich Merz's coalition, and cost him some of his advantages as a former chancellor.
He had key roles in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline projects, as well as a seat on the board of Russian oil company Rosneft, from which he resigned in 2022.
Last year, the former German chancellor announced that he was suffering from “severe burnout” and checked himself into a clinic, right in the middle of an investigation into the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
