Former German Chancellor Gerhart Schroeder said that the threat of sanctions against Russia is the wrong reaction to the Ukrainian crisis.
Schroeder, who was prime minister until 2005, has long had friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is now the president of the "Nord Stream" consortium.
He told Welt am Sonntag (Welt am Sonntag) that Putin "is not persona non grata" and that "it is certain that sanctions and isolation will not achieve anything".
The former German chancellor was criticized for hugging Putin on April 28 at a birthday party in St. Petersburg, at a time when German military observers from the OSCE in eastern Ukraine were abducted by pro-Russian forces.
Schröder told the German newspaper that he asked Putin to help free the hostages and added that the talks "led to success."
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