The former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder did not violate the party order of the SPD with his commitment to Russian state-owned companies. A violation could not be proven to Schröder, the arbitration commission of the SPD sub-district Hanover decided on Monday in the first instance. The decision can be appealed against within two weeks.
Schröder has long been criticized for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian oil and gas industry. In the opinion of many SPD comrades, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, he did not sufficiently distance himself from Russia.
17 regional party associations had therefore applied for regulatory proceedings against him; there were also other applications that did not meet the formal requirements.
