Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's recent musings in the Berliner Zeitung are a creeping attempt to divide Europe and to steer us away from the current course of pressuring Russia, and back onto an old path which has already led to catastrophic consequences. Unfortunately, we are now hearing similar views from time to time, even in Estonia.

Schröder's notion that, instead of 'demonization', we should get along with Russia and revive economic cooperation, is part of a dangerous pattern where the monstrosity of the Putin regime is downplayed and responsibility for the 'bad relations' is shifted onto the West itself. In reality, however, the problem is not a "demonization" of Russia. The problem is everything that Russia has demonstrated about its own nature through its actions. It has attacked its neighbors, occupied their territories — not only in Ukraine, but also in Georgia — committed war crimes, weaponized energy, and used it against Europe.

'Wandel durch Handl,' the hopes of integrating Russia through trade ties and keeping its aggression in check, failed, and painfully so. The West's weak response to the war in Georgia in 2008 and to the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the constant concessions, the looking the other way, and the searching for understanding gave Putin the green light to press on. Consequently, Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine is now in its fourth year.

Europe's slide into a dependence on Russian energy enabled the Kremlin to amass resources, and left Europe in a dangerously vulnerable position, all at a time when Russia should have been deprived of the economic means needed to wage war.

Calls to avoid "demonizing" a country waging the most brutal war in Europe since World War II and even hints at renewed energy cooperation are nothing short of appalling.

Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine is the direct result of years of appeasement and decades of… pic.twitter.com/a3g7r5UCTS

— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) January 25, 2026

Schröder's direct ties to Russian energy corporations are, of course, no secret. Yet in light of his dangerous statements, statements which seek to divert Europe from its current path, it is still worth restating a few simple truths.

First, Russia is waging the most brutal war on European soil since World War Two. Second, Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, nor even solely to its other neighbors. It is a threat to all of Europe, Germany included. Russia has provided proof of this both by having political opponents killed in the Tiergarten, and through its constant hybrid operations.

The peace that Schröder also claims to want will not be born from 'not demonizing' Russia, from restoring relations, or from building new energy cooperation schemes. A just and lasting peace will come only when Russia abandons its imperialist goals, which have repeatedly driven it to use force against neighboring states. It will come when, instead of just honeyed words, all resources are directed at isolating Russia and depriving it of the economic means to continue the war. It will come when Europe remains united and resolute, does not repeat the mistakes of the past, and does not stray from its current course.

Background:

In his column in the Berliner Zeitung on January 23, Schröder, chancellor 1998 to 2005, called for an end to the "demonization" of Russia and for the resumption of energy cooperation with it, even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a violation of international law.

"Russia is not a country of barbarians, but a country with a great culture and diverse historical ties with Germany," Schröder claimed.

He has come under fire in the past, including in his own country, for his close links to the Kremlin. In 2020, Schröder denied that Russia was behind the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was recuperating at the time in a Berlin hospital. After returning to Russia in early 2021, Navalny was arrested and incarcerated, and died in February 2024 in a prison in Siberia.

"Wandel durch Handel" is a political and economic notion most closely associated with German foreign policy, of increasing trade with authoritarian regimes in an effort to induce political change. It has come under scrutiny following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia supplied over half Germany's natural gas needs prior to the invasion, including via the now non-functional Nord Stream 1 undersea pipeline.

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