Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has rejected Russian leader Vladimir Putin's proposal that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder be the European Union's representative in negotiations with Russia to reach a peace agreement on Ukraine.
He said this before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“If we have to talk to Russia, then Russia has to change its position. Gerhard Schroeder is Putin's idea. I believe they have a very close relationship, so Schroeder will not represent Europe. We have institutions that actually represent the European Union. We have Kaia Kallas, Costa, von der Leyen,” Tsakhkna said.
He noted that the EU is represented by the President of the European Council, António Costa, the President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Head of EU Diplomacy, Kaia Kallas.
“We know exactly what kind of Europe we want, and we want Russia to be pushed back to Russia. We want there to be no gray areas between the European Union, NATO and Russia. So all the red lines are there, but Putin is not ready to talk about a lasting and just peace, about peace in general,” he said.
Gerhard Schröder was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. In 2017, he became chairman of the board of directors of Rosneft. In February 2022, he was also nominated to the board of directors of the Russian energy company Gazprom.
On May 19, the European Parliament voted to impose sanctions on Schröder. The German Bundestag also stripped the former politician of his special rights. However, Chancellor Scholz rejected calls by the European Parliament to impose sanctions on Schröder because of his ties to Russia. On May 20, Schröder resigned from Rosneft.
On May 9, Kremlin leader Putin said that he considered Schroeder the best candidate for the role of negotiator between the European Union and Russia.
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga stated that Ukraine does not support Schroeder's candidacy as the EU's negotiator with Russia.