From a Times Insider column by Katrin Bennhold headlined “Two Interviews, No Regrets: Talking About Putin’s Russia With a Former German Chancellor:

I was writing an article about how Germany got hooked on Russian gas over the past two decades and wanted to speak to Gerhard Schröder, the man who popped up nearly every step of the way: as German chancellor from 1998-2005, as a lobbyist for Russian-controlled energy companies since then and as the personal friend of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia throughout.