May 20 (Reuters) – Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft said on Friday former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and German businessman Matthias Warnig had told it they could not continue to serve on its board administration.
“We appreciate their decision and thank them for their continued support,” Rosneft said in a statement.
The European Parliament on Thursday adopted by a large majority a resolution calling for sanctions against Gerhard Schröder if he does not leave the board of directors of the Russian group, an initiative also aimed at diverting him from Gazprom.
Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor between 1998 and 2005, has come under heavy criticism for keeping his paid position on the Rosneft board he had held since 2017.
Germany this week closed the office given to the former chancellor, a German taxpayer-funded perk, in response to outrage over his close ties to Russia’s energy industry and his refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin.
The departure of Gerhard Schröder and Matthias Warnig comes after that of five other foreign Rosneft vice-presidents, six sources told Reuters, just days before the entry into force on May 15 of new EU sanctions against Ukraine. (Reuters report, French version Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
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