Russian President Putin has many words of praise for Gerhard Schröder. In Germany, on the other hand, the former chancellor has been criticized for joining Russia.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin is a former vice chancellor Gerhard Schröder as a “civilized person” and supported his planned nomination to the supervisory board of the Russian energy company Gazprom. Putin told a joint news conference with the chancellor on Tuesday that cooperation with Germany would only benefit from the work of such an “independent expert”. Olaf Scholzo (SPD) in the Kremlin.

Schröder, who is considered a longtime friend of Putin, already heads the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company Rosneft. He also holds management positions in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline projects.

The former chancellor had recently caused a stir and anger within his own party with statements on the Ukraine crisis: Schröder criticized Ukraine’s demands for arms deliveries as a “saber rattle”. Scholz later clarified that Schröder did not speak for the federal government.