Merz condemns Schröder for attending Putin's birthday celebration

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has condemned former chancellor Gerhard Schröder for taking part in celebrations of Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday. Putin turned 74 on Thursday. The visit has drawn sharp criticism in Berlin because Russia has been waging war against Ukraine since 2022, while Schröder has kept up his ties with the Kremlin leader.

A spokesperson for Merz's government said Putin is responsible for the war in Ukraine, which is causing immense suffering, killing civilians and separating families. According to the spokesperson, the chancellor considers Schröder's attendance at such an event blatantly immoral.

Criticism within his own party

The visit was also criticised by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which Schröder represents. Lars Klingbeil, the party's co-chair and finance minister in Merz's conservative-led coalition, called it completely unacceptable given the suffering inflicted on the people of Ukraine. Schröder, 82, and his wife Soyeon Schröder-Kim, who at times handles his communication with the media, have not responded to journalists' questions.

Schröder's ties to Russia

Schröder served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005. In Germany and abroad he has been criticised for his links with Russian companies and with Putin. Soon after leaving office he became chairman of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream, a gas pipeline project in the Baltic Sea led by Russia's Gazprom, which he had actively supported while in office. He later also took senior positions at the Russian oil company Rosneft. He maintained his relationship with Putin after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year Putin said that, in talks on a new European security order, he would regard Schröder as a preferred negotiating partner. The European Union and Merz's government rejected the idea immediately. Last week Schröder joined the board of the Russian retailer Hyperglobus, a company spun off from Germany's Globus Holding that operates more than 20 hypermarkets in Russia.