Germany considers using Putin ally Schröder as peace envoy

Former chancellor could be paired with president in talks with Moscow to end Ukraine war

Note from Scradje :

It would appear from this article that far from instantly dismissing this sick idea, the Germans are actively discussing it ……

Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder became close when each of them led their respective country Credit: Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS

Jörg Luyken in Berlin

Jörg Luyken is a Berlin-based journalist and writer of the German Review, a weekly newsletter on German current affairs

Published 10 May 2026 9:03pm BST

Germany is considering allowing Gerhard Schröder, a former German chancellor and a friend of Vladimir Putin, to act as an envoy in peace talks with Ukraine.

Berlin is said to be open to the idea that Mr Schröder could take part in negotiations as long as he partners with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president.

Putin said on Saturday night, after a military parade on Red Square, that Mr Schröder could act as a mediator in future rounds of talks, after the Russian president said the war was “coming to an end”.

The Russian autocrat named Mr Schröder after the EU said it wanted to talk directly to the Kremlin but had not yet seen any sign from Moscow of a willingness to negotiate.

German officials initially quashed the idea. “We have taken note of the statement,” a German government source told The Telegraph, before describing it as “one of a series of sham offers” from the Kremlin.

“This is part of Russia’s well-known hybrid strategy. However, Germany and Europe will not allow themselves to be divided,” the source said.

Berlin has signalled that it would only consider direct talks once Moscow showed it was willing to move on its red lines for ending the conflict.

Rumours surface

However, a rumour surfaced on Sunday that discussions are taking place inside the German government on whether to send Mr Schröder as part of a pair of negotiators alongside Mr Steinmeier.

Mr Steinmeier, who was German foreign minister under Angela Merkel and was intensely involved in negotiations after the Crimean crisis of 2014, would be seen as an acceptable counterweight to Mr Schröder, according to a report in Der Spiegel newspaper.

Mr Schröder, 82, was German chancellor when Putin first rose to power, and the two men formed a close friendship that persisted beyond Mr Schröder’s electoral defeat in 2005.

Soon after leaving office, Mr Schröder joined the boards of several Russian state-owned energy companies and lobbied for Germany to expand the Nord Stream pipeline system that brought gas directly from Russia along the floor of the Baltic Sea.

Shortly after Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mr Schröder travelled to Moscow on his own initiative in an attempt to help bring the conflict to an end.

Later, moves were made within his party, the Social Democrats, to expel him over his refusal to give up his well-paid roles on the boards of Russian energy companies.

The development comes as the EU has said for the first time that it is preparing to take a direct role in negotiations with the Kremlin.

Last week António Costa, the president of the European Council, said that he was talking to the bloc’s heads of government to “identify what we need effectively to discuss with Russia when it comes to the right moment to do this”.

“For the time being, nobody has seen any sign from Russia that they want effectively to engage in serious negotiations,” Mr Costa said.

In Berlin, several influential politicians have reacted positively to the idea of bringing the controversial former chancellor in as a mediator.

The proposal should be “seriously considered” and “not dismissed outright”, said Adis Ahmetović, the foreign affairs spokesman for the Social Democrats, the junior partner in chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centrist coalition.

Asked by The Telegraph whether a Schröder-Steinmeier duo was being considered, the German government source said that “Europe and the United States [already] have established negotiating teams”, adding that Europe needed to be “at the table” during talks.

‘A new Iron Curtain’

Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, remains the only European leader with close ties to the Kremlin.

During a visit to the Russian capital at the weekend that upset European counterparts, he bemoaned a “new Iron Curtain” that was hampering trade.

Meanwhile, Germany is reviving efforts to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US, the ‌Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of Berlin’s strategy.

Berlin hopes to persuade the Trump administration to agree to the sale of the Tomahawks together with their Typhon ground launchers, the newspaper said.

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s minister of defence,⁠ is planning a trip to Washington, the report said, in an effort to revive Berlin’s proposal to purchase long-range systems, which was ‌first submitted in July last year. The US has yet to respond.

The visit, however, hinges on ‌whether Mr Pistorius can secure a ⁠meeting with Pete Hegseth, his US counterpart, unnamed sources told the ⁠FT.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/10/germany-putin-ally-envoy-ukraine/

3 comments

Some good comments here, but I will start with one of the DT’s most loathsome and persistent trolls.

“Bill Carson” is either an educated ruZZian, or he could be from the Faragistas. Either way, he’s a fucking bastard :

Bill Carson
I see the usual suspects and the Ukrainian flag wavers society are a bit upset 😂😂😂 The fact that Putin is still calling the shots and Zelensky is still just a puppet has really got them going 😂😂😂 I am glad the Germans have finally realised that they need cheap Russian energy to survive, and that Ukraine can be sacrificed. Peace may be on the cards after all and Zelensky is still holding the joker 😂🃏😂

James Law
Reply to Bill Carson :
Zelensky doesn’t need to ask permission for parades though. Weatherspoon’ s opens soon Billy, time you jogged on.

Scep Tical
“Germany considers using Putin ally Schröder as peace envoy”
He could equally use Putin’s lap dog, ex Chancellor Merkel…

Ken Platt
The German Government is full of Russian Agents, Merkel for example.

Jennifer Usher
More evidence that Merz is not the firm defender of the interests of Western Europe, and Ukraine, that we thought.

William Morris
Both Trump and Schroeder have been accused of being Russian assets. Trump was accused by the former head of the CIA, John Brennan. Steinmeier has made pro-Russian comments in the past. He was critical of NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe before the Ukraine invasion. The Russians respect the Germans. They don’t take the EU seriously.

Margaret Pike
Gerhard Schröder, an envoy for Germany, or his good friend Putin?
29 April 2014
“Gerhard Schroeder faced a barrage of domestic criticism on Tuesday after celebrating his 70th birthday with his friend President Vladimir Putin at a lavish party held in the Russian city of St Petersburg. Photographs published online and in the German media showed the former Social Democrat chancellor embracing Mr Putin and smiling broadly as the two met on the steps of St Petersburg’s Jussupov palace, where Mr Schroder celebrated his birthday on Monday evening.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10795042/Gerhard-Schroeders-birthday-party-with-Vladimir-Putin.html

Aj Arn
Schroeder was the Collaborator of Russia in establishing German, and EU, dependency on cheap Russian Gas, making us vulnerable in war.

Aj Arn
Why use a ridiculously young, undated, photo of Schroeder & Putin, looking — as far as the former goes — a couple of decades younger than his current 82 years of age?

Trevor Smallwood
Reply to Aj Arn –
Because they’re too old to do kissy face pics now?
The pic helps make the grift obvious.

Nick Airborne
Schröder, is a professional betrayer of Germany.
The fact that he worked for a former KGB Colonel in the Soviet Red Army should make the Germans feel ashamed of him.
Further to that, he used to be the German chancellor. He, with Merkel, worked together for Putin.

Alexander Smaga
To hand Schröder and his lap dog Steinmeyer – who are the main architects of the Russian-German North stream project – the role of peace envoys for ending the war in Ukraine is like asking two alcoholics to look after a bottle of vodka.

M J A Church
Reply to Alexander Smaga
Well said. I’m shocked anyone would think of them undertaking this.

GRAHAM REEVE
You don’t need to be a forensic accountant to see that this guy is corrupt to the core!
First he facilitated massive dependence on Russian energy by pushing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline deal with Putin 10 days before an election he was sure to lose in 2005. In the interim, his government secretly approved a €900 million credit guarantee for the pipeline project. Then, 17 days after leaving office, he took several high-paying roles with the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom who were the primary beneficiaries.
I found a breakdown of his estimated earnings from Russia which totalled nearly a million per year!:
(1) Annual Earnings from Russian RolesRosneft: As chairman of the board for the Russian oil giant Rosneft, he earned approximately $600,000 (€550,000 to €600,000) per year.
(2) Nord Stream AG: For his role leading the shareholder committee of the original pipeline project, his annual salary was reported to be around €250,000.
(3) Nord Stream 2 AG: Reports from mid-2024 indicate he received roughly €400,000 annually (paid as €200,000 twice a year) for his work with the Nord Stream 2 subsidiary.

Simon Rawle
Ukraine has to be careful. Both Trump and Schroder will hear the phrase “war to end soon” and will snap at the chances of easy Nobel Peace Prizes if they stick their snouts in and force Ukraine to make concessions.
Putin declaring that the war “may end soon” is completely disingenuous, of course. It is his war. He started it. He could end it tomorrow. Putin is holding out the peace carrot so that Ukraine takes the blame for not ending the war on his terms.