'A disgrace for Germany': Ex-chancellor Schröder faces backlash over Putin birthday visit

According to German newspaper Welt, the Kremlin confirmed that Schröder, 82, visited Putin at his home to celebrate the Russian president's 74th birthday. Kremlin-released photographs showed the two longtime friends smiling and clasping hands.

The Kremlin claimed Putin had learned of Schröder's presence in Moscow from media reports before inviting him to his home.

Merz condemned the visit, with deputy government spokesperson Steffen Meyer saying the chancellor considered it “virtually immoral” for Schröder to celebrate with Putin while Russian attacks continued to kill and injure Ukrainians.

Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of Schröder's Social Democratic Party (SPD), also called the visit “unacceptable.”

German Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry officials said they had not been informed of Schröder's trip in advance and that the German Embassy in Moscow had provided no assistance.

'Too sick for inquiries, but fit for Putin's birthday'

Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt condemned the visit in a post on X.

“A disgrace for Germany. A betrayal of Europe. A disservice to peace,” she wrote, adding that she had come to expect nothing different from Schröder.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the European Parliament's defense committee, described the former chancellor as “Germany's cheekiest pensioner.”

She criticized him for traveling to Russia and accepting well-paid positions there despite having previously missed parliamentary inquiry hearings on health grounds.

Dennis Radtke, a German member of the European Parliament from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), similarly questioned how Schröder could be too ill to testify before an investigative committee yet healthy enough to travel to Moscow.

“A miraculous recovery, Rasputin-style,” Radtke wrote.

Schröder had previously missed hearings related to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, citing burnout.

Before attending Putin's birthday celebration, the former chancellor visited a Moscow branch of the Russian operations of German supermarket chain Globus, where he recently joined the supervisory board.

Visit coincided with deadly Russian attack

Schröder's visit took place on October 7, when Russia launched a large-scale combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes killed at least 25 people and injured more than 100, describing the attack as a “birthday gift for Putin,” according to Welt.

Schröder, who served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has maintained close ties with Putin despite Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

After leaving office, he held senior positions at Russian energy companies, including as chairman of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of Gazprom.

The former chancellor has repeatedly faced criticism in Germany over those relationships.

Some German politicians defend the visit

Not all German politicians condemned Schröder's trip.

SPD lawmaker Ralf Stegner defended the former chancellor, arguing that his personal access to Putin could potentially help bring about an end to the war.

“Gerhard Schröder is no longer an active politician. He was there as a private individual,” Stegner told German outlet t-online.

Stegner said Germany should not treat a former chancellor's visit to Moscow as grounds for political exorcism. He argued that even a small contribution toward a ceasefire would make the visit worthwhile.

In May, Putin suggested Schröder as a possible mediator in negotiations concerning the war in Ukraine.

European officials rejected the proposal. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas argued that Schröder's history as a lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies meant Putin would effectively have a representative on both sides of the negotiating table.

No diplomatic outcome from Schröder's latest visit has been announced.