“We should be glad that Schröder still has direct access to Putin” — Der Tagesspiegel

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder met with the Russian President in the Kremlin. Official Berlin is not commenting — it is keeping its distance, and the German Foreign Ministry emphasizes that it was “not involved” in the preparations. However, German media are unexpectedly (possibly even for themselves) no longer seeing this as a problem. Der Tagesspiegel quotes Ralf Stegner, a politician from the ruling Social Democratic Party:

“It’s more of an opportunity than a risk when the former chancellor talks to Putin. Who else in Germany has access to him? <…> Outrage over Schröder doesn’t advance the cause and doesn’t help Ukraine at all. It’s just as pointless to shout ‘You’re a dictator!’ to Putin through the Kremlin wall. Instead, we should welcome every such attempt.” 

Fabio de Masi, a deputy from the party “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance”, is in solidarity: “It’s ridiculous to publicly express outrage at those who are trying to persuade Russia to cease fire behind the scenes.” 

Editor’s Note: This is happening in context to Putin naming Schröder as one potential person who could actually lead peace negotiations involving the conflict in Ukraine. Thus, this could be a sign of at least some factions within Europe wanting to end the madness that was unleashed by other Europeans in Kiev. We would like to thank Mr. Schröder for his continued stance against Russophobia as the core of German politics.