Friedrich Merz criticizes Gerhard Schroder for attending Vladimir Putin's birthday celebration

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “deeply outraged” by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder’s participation in a party organized in Moscow in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, German government representatives announced on Friday, October 9. The event took place on Wednesday to mark the Kremlin leader’s birthday.

Deputy government spokesperson Steffen Meyer said that Putin is solely responsible for the war in Ukraine and for “immeasurable suffering,” civilian casualties, shattered families, deaths, and injuries. In this context, Merz considers it “simply immoral” for Schroder to celebrate Putin.

According to the Kremlin, Putin learned that Schroder was in Moscow on business and invited him to join him. The former German chancellor, who held office between 1998 and 2005, is a close associate of the Russian president and has repeatedly been criticized for his political and business ties to Russia.

Schroder has met with Putin several times since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian media recently reported that the former chancellor had been appointed to the supervisory board of the Hyperglobus supermarket chain, formerly a company of the German Globus group.