Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder refused to transfer documents about his conversations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to the state archive. These documents were kept in Schröder's office in the Bundestag, which was closed shortly after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, UNN reports with reference to Deutsche Welle.
Details
According to media reports, back in the summer of 2025, the German Federal Archives and the Federal Chancellery requested documents from Gerhard Schröder related to his time in power from 1998-2005. Among them were documents about conversations with Putin.
However, Schröder refused and instead handed over 178 folders to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is close to the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He has been a member of it since 1963.
According to German media, these include meeting minutes, personal correspondence, handwritten notes, and documents about meetings, including a summary of negotiations with Putin.
Additionally
Gerhard Schröder was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. After his resignation, he became chairman of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, as well as a member of the Gazprom board. He is also a personal friend of Russian dictator Putin and a so-called "Putinversteher" (a person who expresses sympathy for Putin, despite his criminal actions, particularly against Ukraine - ed.).
Recall
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Heorhiy Tikhy reacted to the declassified transcript of conversations between Vladimir Putin and then-US President George W. Bush. In these documents, the Russian leader openly opposed Ukraine's accession to NATO in the early 2000s and warned of an inevitable conflict.
This is not the first such statement by the Russian dictator. In April 2008, during a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, he stated that "Ukraine is not a state." This was reported by the media of Ukraine, Russia, and a number of other countries.
In addition, back in 2005, during a speech to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Putin stated that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" for Russia.