Germany considers using Putin ally Schröder as envoy to end Ukraine war

Germany is considering allowing Gerhard Schröder, a former German chancellor and a friend of Vladimir Putin, to act as an envoy in peace talks with Ukraine.

Berlin is said to be open to the idea that Mr Schröder could take part in negotiations as long as he partners with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president, ‘The Telegraph’ writes.

Putin said on Saturday night, after a military parade on Red Square, that Mr Schröder could act as a mediator in future rounds of talks, after the Russian president said the war was “coming to an end”.

The Russian autocrat’s naming of Mr Schröder came after the EU said it wanted to talk directly to the Kremlin but had not yet seen any sign from Moscow of a willingness to negotiate.

German officials initially quashed the idea. “We have taken note of the statement,” a German government source told The Telegraph, before describing it as “one of a series of sham offers” from the Kremlin.

Berlin has signalled that it would only consider direct talks once Moscow showed it was willing to move on its red lines for ending the conflict.

Rumours surface

However, a rumour surfaced on Sunday that discussions are taking place inside the German government on whether to send Mr Schröder as part of a duo of negotiators alongside Mr Steinmeier.

Mr Steinmeier, who was German foreign minister under Angela Merkel and was intensely involved in negotiations after the Crimean crisis of 2014, would be seen as an acceptable counterweight to Mr Schröder, according to a report in Der Spiegel newspaper.

Mr Schröder, 82, was German chancellor when Mr Putin first rose to power, and the two men formed a close friendship that persisted beyond Mr Schröder’s electoral defeat in 2005.

Soon after leaving office, Mr Schröder joined the boards of several Russian state-owned energy companies and lobbied for Germany to expand the Nord Stream pipeline system that brought gas directly from Russia along the floor of the Baltic Sea.

Shortly after Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mr Schröder travelled to Moscow on his own initiative in an attempt to help bring the conflict to an end.

Later, moves were made within his party, the Social Democrats, to expel him over his refusal to give up his well-paid roles on the boards of Russian energy companies.

The development comes as the EU has said for the first time that it is preparing to take a direct role in negotiations with the Kremlin.

Last week António Costa, the president of the European Council, said that he was talking to the bloc’s heads of government to “identify what we need effectively to discuss with Russia when it comes to the right moment to do this”.

In Berlin, several influential politicians have reacted positively to the idea of bringing the controversial former chancellor in as a mediator.

The proposal should be “seriously considered” and “not dismissed outright”, said Adis Ahmetović, the foreign affairs spokesman for the Social Democrats, the junior partner in chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centrist coalition.

Asked by The Telegraph whether a Schröder-Steinmeier duo was being considered, the German government source said that “Europe and the United States [already] have established negotiating teams”, adding that Europe needed to be “at the table” during talks.

Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, remains the only European leader with close ties to the Kremlin.

During a visit to the Russian capital at the weekend that upset European counterparts, he bemoaned a “new Iron Curtain” that was hampering trade.

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