As head of the center-left Social Democrats, Gerhard Schröder was chancellor of Germany between 1998 and 2005. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin says he would like Schröder as a possible European mediator in peace talks to end the Ukraine war . During his tenure as chancellor, Schröder's Russia-friendly foreign policy attitude was not that different from other German politicians. Other German leaders, including Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz as well as current President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, all played a role in establishing closer ties between Berlin and Moscow through projects such as the Nord Stream gas pipelines But what made Schröder's stance different has been his support of Russia in the face of public outcry over Putin's aggression toward Ukraine. This estranged the now-82-year-old from Berlin's political establishment and from his own party, which tried to expel him .…