Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder warned that if anyone believes they can “defeat” Russia, they should read their history books. He made the comments at a public event in Zürich, where he spoke for two hours at an event of 500 people sponsored by Weltwoche. “I recommend that everyone who believes this look at the history books. From Napoleon to Hitler, everyone failed because of this,” Schröder said.
Recalling the fact that he took part in the Istanbul peace talks in March 2022, the former Chancellor said that, “peace was in reach,” and included rejecting Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO. But he added that the Ukrainian government was not able to agree to the deal because “more powerful circles” behind Kyiv blocked it in the hopes that continuing the conflict would strategically weaken Russia or even trigger regime change, Schröder said. He pointed to the fact that the Russian population supports its government in the conflict.
