2024-04-08 20:31:34
The SPD politician Gerhard Schröder is polarizing. Because of his friendship with Putin, his companions turn away. But he defends her vehemently.
Gerhard Schröder celebrated his 70th birthday with his friend Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg. On the occasion of his 80th birthday next Sunday, the former chancellor gave ARD reporter Lucas Stratmann an insight into his “retired” life.
He took the journalist with him to selected events for six months. In “Out of Service? – The Gerhard Schröder Story” you see the Chancellor on the golf course, on a factory tour in China, joking with airport employees or in his local bar with friends and companions.
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Schröder dampens expectations
Always at his side: his wife Soyeon Schröder-Kim, who wipes his jacket free of lint with her hand before appearances, takes minutes at meetings with politicians and films all conversations with Stratmann herself, as he reports. Also always there: two employees of the Federal Criminal Police Office who are supposed to protect the former Chancellor.
“That was the usual mistake I make from time to time,” says Schröder self-critically after hitting a ball with the wrong iron on the golf course. “Strategically wrong,” he adds.
Schröder wants to maintain a “special relationship” with Putin
He is not as critical of his friendship with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as he is of his golf game. On the contrary, Schröder still stands by her. However, with a view to the role he could play in ending the war in Ukraine, he dampened possible expectations.
The former Chancellor explained that he could not do more than contribute to a negotiated solution. His options as “someone who was once head of government” are limited. In a side sentence he adds about himself: “Although with a special relationship with the Russian president – that should continue.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz were the ones who could have found a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Europe, said Schröder. In his opinion, there will be no military solution for both sides.
Former Chancellor: There are free elections in Russia
While it is actually the reporter Stratmann who tries to find out what drives the former Chancellor with critical questions, there is also a moment in which Schröder turns the tables. He takes on the role of the interviewer.
This happens when it comes to the topic of democracy in Russia. When asked, Schröder admitted that it was “not true” that Putin made Russia into a proper democracy. Although he had been convinced in the past that he would do that. However, there are free elections, the former Chancellor noted.
“But no free oppositions,” replied Stratmann. That’s true, but they aren’t banned either, says Schröder. When the journalist points out that the situation in Russia has not improved in the past 20 years, the SPD man remarks: “No, but our conversation won’t make it any better!”
Schröder takes Stratmann to task
In the following, Stratmann has difficulty finding a word to say because Schröder is putting him through the wringer: the former Chancellor repeatedly asks whether the situation will improve if one distances oneself from Russia and explains that he will always be in favor of a “willingness to talk.”
Journalist Stratmann makes it clear several times that he doesn’t want to create a demarcation at all, but then gets his question in: How does Schröder want to ensure that Russia’s attitude improves? One should not overestimate oneself, replies Schröder. It is a mistake to believe that he can make the situation “completely changeable”.
In addition to his political role, the documentary also repeatedly deals with how Schröder feels about the fact that the leadership of his own party and others have distanced themselves from him because of his proximity to Russia.