Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder went to Moscow to celebrate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, and politicians in Berlin have reacted with anger. According to tagesschau, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is “deeply outraged”, and criticism has come from almost every major party, including Schröder’s own Social Democrats.
What happened
Schröder, who is 82, attended Putin’s birthday in Moscow, tagesschau reported. The broadcaster says few details of the visit are known. One image shows the two men shaking hands.
The strongest response came from the Kanzleramt (the Federal Chancellery). Deputy government spokesperson Steffen Meyer passed on the Chancellor’s view: “The Federal Chancellor is deeply outraged by Mr Schröder’s meeting with the Russian President Putin.” Meyer said Putin is responsible for thousands of deaths and immeasurable suffering in Ukraine. He added that the Chancellor considers it “almost immoral that Mr Schröder celebrates with Mr Putin on such a day.”
Lars Klingbeil, the Social Democrat (SPD) vice-chancellor, called the visit “completely unacceptable”. tagesschau describes the SPD’s reaction as collective, resigned head-shaking. The party once tried and failed to expel Schröder, and since then it has ignored him as far as it can. The broadcaster says the party’s view is still the one its current co-leader Bärbel Bas gave earlier: “To destroy such a political legacy oneself in the end, I find simply sad.”
Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckhart said she was angry rather than sad. She called the visit a disgrace, a betrayal of Europe and a disservice to peace. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the liberal FDP, who chairs the European Parliament’s defence committee, went further. She called Schröder “Germany’s cheekiest pensioner” and wrote that he was “too ill for committees of inquiry (very bad burnout), but well enough for well-paid mandates in Russia and a birthday party at the home of war criminal Putin. A disgrace without equal.”
The two men have celebrated birthdays together before. For Schröder’s 60th, Putin travelled to Hannover with a Cossack choir. Schröder marked his 70th with a sleigh ride in St Petersburg.
Schröder has not changed his position. tagesschau quotes his long-standing view of the friendship: “It is one of those points where I do not let anyone tell me what I should and should not do.” The broadcaster also reports that he did not coordinate the trip with the Foreign Office, the Chancellery or the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for his personal protection (Personenschutz). tagesschau’s conclusion is that since 2022, Schröder has spoken only for himself.
Why it matters if you live in Germany
Former chancellors in Germany normally receive state support after leaving office. In Schröder’s case, the Haushaltsausschuss des Bundestags (the budget committee of the federal parliament) officially “suspended” his former chancellor’s office, along with five staff members and a driver. tagesschau reports that Schröder went to court over the decision and lost. So public money no longer funds his office. However, the Interior Ministry is still responsible for his personal security, and it was not told about this trip in advance.
The reaction also shows how much of German politics agrees on this issue. Within one day, the Chancellor’s office, the SPD vice-chancellor, the Greens and the FDP all condemned the visit. tagesschau also recalls earlier criticism from Markus Söder, leader of the Bavarian CSU, who called Schröder a “stubborn, old, bizarre man for whom his own bank account is more important than Germany’s reputation.” For anyone trying to understand how Germany positions itself towards Russia, the government’s language is clear: it describes Putin as responsible for thousands of deaths in Ukraine.
The story also matters inside the SPD, which leads the government together with Merz’s conservatives. Schröder is still a member even though the party tried to remove him. For voters, this is a reminder that the SPD’s past leadership remains linked to Moscow, while its current leaders keep publicly distancing themselves from it.
One SPD politician took a different view. Ralf Stegner, an SPD foreign policy specialist, told several media outlets that Schröder is one of the few people in Germany who still has access to Putin. Stegner said that if the visit helped peace by even a millimetre, it was a success. tagesschau expects this to remain an isolated opinion.
What to watch next
tagesschau does not report any new formal steps against Schröder after this visit. His office is already suspended, and the attempt to expel him from the SPD has already failed. The main open questions are political ones: whether more SPD politicians side with Stegner’s argument about keeping a channel to Moscow open, or whether the party’s leadership becomes even firmer.
A related idea is also back in the debate. tagesschau links to an earlier report that Putin had proposed Schröder as a mediator, and that the proposal received mixed reactions in Germany. Wider discussion about any future talks on Ukraine will probably return to this idea, and to Stegner’s claim that Schröder’s access to the Kremlin has some value.
Schröder’s own comments suggest he will not change course. The visit was not agreed with the Foreign Office, the Chancellery or the Interior Ministry, so watch whether the government changes how it handles his future trips abroad. The source does not say that any such change is planned.
Source: tagesschau
Sources
- tagesschau: Altkanzler Schröder bei Putins Geburtstag: Kopfschütteln, Wut, Empörung, accessed 11 October 2026 (archived copy)
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