Germany's former chancellor Schröder digs in heels over Putin row

Germany's disgraced former chancellor Gerhard Schröder has defended his decision not to distance himself from his long-standing business partner Vladimir Putin, the Russian President who is seen as the main architect of the country's war in Ukraine.

"I have condemned the war several times, you know that. But would a personal distancing from Vladimir Putin really do anyone any good?" Schröder, who served as Germany's leader from 1998 to 2005, told Stern magazine private broadcaster RTL/ntv on Wednesday.

In the interview, Schröder advocated putting the controversial Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which was put on hold in light on the Russian invasion, into operation.

The former chancellor has been criticized for years for his involvement with Russian state-owned companies and for his close personal friendship with Putin.

According to critics - including from his own party, the centre-left SPD that heads the current government coalition - he has insufficiently denounced Russia's actions in Ukraine.

In the coming days, an SPD arbitration committee is to decide whether to expel him from the party.

Schröder was in Moscow last week, where he met Putin.

"The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution" to the war in Ukraine, Schröder said.

He added that compromises could include partial Russian control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass and some sort of "armed neutrality" for Ukraine as an alternative to NATO membership.

He added that efforts by Kiev to regain Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, were futile.

"The idea that Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelensky will recapture Crimea militarily is absurd," he said. "Who seriously believes that a Russian president could ever give up Crimea again?"