Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt fʁɪts kʊʁt ˈʃʁøːdɐ] (listen); born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As Chancellor, he led a coalition government of the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens. Schröder was nominated to become a director of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom in February 2022, and he has been chairman of Russian energy company Rosneft since 2017.
Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he served as Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming Chancellor. Following the 2005 federal election, which his party lost, and after three weeks of negotiations, he stood down as Chancellor in favour of Angela Merkel of the rival Christian Democratic Union. He is the chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft, after having been hired as a global manager by investment bank Rothschild, and also the chairman of the board of football club Hannover 96.
Schröder has been criticized for colluding with Vladimir Putin's Russia and being complicit in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 1 March 2022, Schröder's entire staff including long-time office manager Albrecht Funk resigned due to Schröder's alliances with Russia and Putin directly. On 8 March 2022 the Public Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity in crimes against humanity due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations. On the same day his party initiated proceedings to expel him from the SPD. Shortly before the formal vote to strip him of the honorary citizenship of his hometown of Hanover, Schröder wrote that he relinquished the honour. The CDU/CSU group demanded that Schröder is included in the European Union sanctions against individuals with ties to the Putin regime.