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Ex-German Chancellor Schröder attends Putin's birthday bash
DW.com • • world
Key Points:
- Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attended Russian President Vladimir Putin's 74th birthday party in Moscow, as confirmed by the Kremlin, which described Schröder as an "old friend" of Putin.
- Schröder was in Moscow visiting a branch of the Hyperglobus supermarket chain, where he recently joined the supervisory board; Hyperglobus was spun off from the German retail company Globus Holding.
- Schröder has faced significant backlash in Germany due to his close ties with Russia and Putin, especially following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including the closure of his taxpayer-funded Berlin office and calls for his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
- Despite the controversy and internal party pressure, Schröder has remained a member of the SPD and continues to maintain personal and professional connections with Russian state-owned energy firms.
