Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and CEO of Nord Stream 2 AG (operator of Nord Stream 2) Matthias Warnig announced the impossibility of extending their powers on the board of directors of Rosneft. Warnig is not a public figure, but Schroeder has come under fire in recent months for his stance on Russia and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The largest Russian oil company said that they “understand” their decision and thank them for their “unwavering support.”

Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontiev refused to talk to the BBC on the subject. “I won’t give you any comments. Who are you for me to give you comments?” – he said.

Schroeder has been heading the board of directors of Rosneft since September 2017, and even earlier, in March 2006, he became chairman of the board of shareholders of Nord Stream 2 AG (operator of Nord Stream 2). This is the Gazprom pipeline. Warning is a managing director of Nord Stream AG and a member of the board of directors of Rosneft, and joined the board in 2011.

On February 22, the German authorities – two days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – suspended the certification process for Nord Stream 2, and US President Joe Biden decided to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG and its leaders.

Until November 2005, Schroeder was the Federal Chancellor of Germany. Warnig is a businessman, he shies away from publicity, but the German media reported that he served in the Stasi, the state security service of the GDR. Around that time, according to publications, he has known Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in the GDR through the KGB. Warnig made no secret of his acquaintance with Putin.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schroeder has come under fire for his ties to Russia and Putin. The day before, on May 19, deputies of the European Parliament adopted a resolution (which is of a declarative nature) that sanctions should be imposed against Schroeder, since he did not leave the board of directors of Rosneft.

The European Parliament demanded that Schroeder and former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, who also sits on the board of directors of Rosneft, resign from their posts. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday rejected the European Parliament’s demand for sanctions against Schroeder.

He said the German parliament’s decision to strip Schroeder of his taxpayer-paid office space in Berlin was the right thing to do, and he doesn’t think “anything else is needed at the moment.”

Schroeder lost the bureau in the Bundestag, which was due to him as a former chancellor. The parliamentary budget committee decided to cut the corresponding item of expenditure after the ruling majority in the Bundestag came to the conclusion that Schroeder was no longer fulfilling his obligations as a former head of government, DW reported.

Employees of the Schroeder bureau, as reported, back in March refused to work with the ex-chancellor in protest against his position on Russia and were transferred to other positions in the Bundestag apparatus. Collaboration with Schroeder was also terminated by his speechwriter, who had worked with him for 20 years.

In March, Schroeder was forced to renounce the title of honorary citizen of his hometown of Hanover. He also had to step down from the board of local football club Hannover 96, who wanted to break with the former chancellor over his stance on Ukraine.

“They don’t deal with an aggressor, with such a warmonger as Putin. With regard to the former chancellor, we are never talking about completely private life. Especially in a situation like the current one,” Lars, co-chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany, was quoted by DW. Klingbeil. Schroeder did not react to criticism, and the SPD already has 14 statements demanding his expulsion from the party, the newspaper noted .

At the end of April, in an interview with the New York Times, Schroeder argued that “a country like Russia cannot be isolated in the long term, either politically or economically.” “German industry needs raw materials that Russia has. This is not only oil and gas, but also rare earth elements. And these are raw materials that cannot simply be replaced,” he said .

Before the war, answering a question about friendship with Putin, Schroeder said: “Friendship means that you express your point of view to each other and can criticize each other. But this is not done in public, but in private.”

And Putin told how he went to the bathhouse with Schroeder: “We were once at my residence, many years ago already, and went to the bathhouse, and it caught fire. He just poured himself a beer, I go out and say: Gerhard, we need get out of here, we’re on fire. And he answers: I’ll finish my beer now and let’s go.”

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