“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” Schröder said in an interview with German magazine Stern. Schroeder has been heavily criticized in recent months for his refusal to distance himself from Putin, a close friend, despite Russia’s war in Ukraine, and for his continued ties to Russian energy companies closely controlled by the Kremlin. In a recent interview he defended the president over alleged Russian atrocities in Ukrainian towns like Butsa, saying he did not believe those orders would have come from the Kremlin. Speaking to Stern he once again refused to disavow his friendship with Putin. “I have condemned war many times, you know that. But would it really help anyone if I personally distanced myself from Vladimir Putin?’ asked. Schroeder added that staying in touch with the Russian leader meant he could “still be useful.” He said he had received several letters from Germany saying: “It is good that there is still someone keeping the lines of communication open with Russia in the current conflict.” The Social Democrats are trying to oust the former chancellor from the party, and in May he finally stepped down as chairman of Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, after weeks of pressure. Schroeder said the Kremlin was ready to negotiate an end to the war, pointing to the success of talks to resume Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. “Perhaps one could gradually extend it to a ceasefire,” he said. But the kind of settlement he said was possible reflected many of the Kremlin’s key concerns. He said it would be a “big mistake” to preemptively dismiss potential concessions from Ukraine as a “dictated peace.” The problems could be solved, he said, through a compromise on the eastern Donbas region — based on a “Swiss canton model” — as well as “armed neutrality” for Ukraine as an alternative to joining NATO. He also said Ukraine should give up its claim to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. “The idea that the Ukrainian president [Volodymyr] “Zelensky will militarily retake Crimea is simply absurd,” he said.

Schröder also said Germany could avoid an energy crisis this winter by putting the now-dormant Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation. In addition to leading negotiations for the original Nord Stream pipeline, Schröder later served as chairman of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG. “If things get really tight, there is this pipeline and with the two Nord Stream pipelines there will be no supply problem for German industry and for German households,” he said, describing NS2 as “ready”. The former leader said Germany and France have a special responsibility to try to end the war in Ukraine. “There’s not enough going on right now on that front, that’s my impression,” he said. “Because it’s clear that nothing will happen without talks.”