Ex-Chancellor Schroeder Asked to Leave Germany's Ruling Party Over Putin Stance
- Co-leader of ruling party calls defense of Putin ‘absurd’
- Saskia Esken says process to kick out Schroeder has started
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Germany’s Social Democrats called on Gerhard Schroeder to leave the party after the former chancellor defended Russian President Vladimir Putin and refused to give up lucrative jobs at Russian state-owned companies despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Quitting these posts “would have been required to save his reputation as a former and once successful chancellor,” SPD co-leader Saskia Esken said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday. “Unfortunately, he didn’t follow this advice.”