00:00Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder held a surprise one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, as
00:08announced by the Kremlin, in what is a perceived blow to Europe.
00:12The Kremlin described the discussion between the pair as friendly, adding that the meeting took place in Moscow.
00:18It's not clear what Putin and Schroeder discussed, but the war in Ukraine was likely to top their agenda.
00:24Schroeder served as German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, when his Social Democratic Party was voted out by incoming Angela
00:32Merkel.
00:33He has subsequently worked for Russian state companies, where he has cultivated a close relationship with Putin, one he often
00:40describes as a friendship.
00:42Putin has even named the former German leader as the only suitable European mediator to engage in talks aimed at
00:48ending the war in Ukraine, a proposition the EU firmly rejected.
00:52The meeting comes just days after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested in an open letter a meeting with Putin to
00:59explore ways to end the invasion of his country.
01:02Putin snubbed the letter, calling it rude, and stressed that there was no reason to meet, a move Kyiv described
01:09as evidence of Russia's unwillingness to end the war.
01:12Meanwhile, Russian attacks are continuing to pummel Ukrainian cities, while Kyiv also continues to carry out its own counter-offensive
01:20targeting Russian energy sites and ports.
01:22.
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