French politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, an MEP from the FDP, expressed considerable skepticism regarding Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion to utilize former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) as a mediator in the conflict over Ukraine. Speaking to the press, Strack-Zimmermann emphasized that any mediator must be accepted by both sides involved in the conflict. She questioned whether Ukraine would truly view Schröder as sufficiently neutral, given his continued close ties to Putin following the 2014 annexation of Crimea-and potentially even today.
Adding to her doubts, the chairwoman of the Defence Committee in the European Parliament pointed out that Schröder不仅 conducted business with Nord Stream and other Russian corporations right up until the outbreak of the war. She also referenced “the bizarre appearance” of Schröder and his wife in Moscow in 2022, noting that Schröder has repeatedly sought proximity to Putin and had not condemned the invasion of Ukraine with enough clarity. Strack-Zimmermann concluded that there were “significant doubts” about this proposal being a good idea.
This suggestion was made by Putin himself, who had introduced Schröder as a potential mediator during a press conference, stating that he would prefer to conduct talks with Schröder among all European politicians.
The proposal also faced resistance from within the governing German party, the SPD. Michael Roth, a former chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, criticized the move to “bring Gerhard Schröder into the picture as a mediator” as an “affront against the United States and a transparent maneuver”. Roth argued that genuine pursuit of peace should begin with a ceasefire.
However, he remained critical of Putin’s strategy, stating that Russia was imposing impossible conditions on the Ukraine while simultaneously promoting “his personal friend as a mediator”. Roth characterized the effort not as serious diplomacy, but as an attempt to simulate a willingness to talk and stir up fresh unrest in Europe. He asserted that a mediator cannot simply be “Putin’s buddy” underscoring that the most critical factor is Ukraine’s acceptance, which neither Moscow nor the Western powers can decide.