Warnig sent by Gazprom
Putin friend resigns from Schalke’s supervisory board
02/24/2022 11:56 am
Matthias Warnig once spied for the state security of the GDR, meanwhile he is very well acquainted with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US sanctions because of the Russian attack on Ukraine also hit the Germans. He is therefore leaving the supervisory board of FC Schalke 04.
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Gazprom representative Matthias Warnig resigned his seat on the supervisory board of second division soccer club Schalke 04 with immediate effect. The 66-year-old was sent by the Russian main sponsor of the Royal Blues as a co-opted member of the supervisory board in July 2019. Born in Lusatian Warnig, he is CEO of Nord Stream 2 AG and is considered a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Warnig worked as a secret agent for state security in the GDR until 1990 and was even awarded the “Gold Medal for Loyal Service in the National People’s Army”. In the late 1980s he was deployed as a special-operations officer in Düsseldorf and was called back to East Berlin prematurely when the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Federal Republic targeted him as a suspected spy. According to reports, the friendship with Putin has existed for more than 30 years. In Russia, Warnig also sits on the supervisory bodies of Bank Rossija, Bank VTB and the energy company Rosneft, among others.
At Schalke 04, consultations on possible measures are in full swing after Russia’s attack. “We were also shocked by the pictures that are happening there,” said spokesman Marc Siekmann: “But I have to ask for your understanding that the whole thing took a new turn on Thursday morning and we need time to discuss it and see what that means for Schalke 04.”
The club’s management will “comment on this in due course,” Siekmann continued: “I can’t estimate exactly when that will be at this point. We also need time to check and advise on various things.” You are in constant dialogue with the financially indispensable sponsor. “For FC Schalke 04 there is no question that the club is committed to peace and peaceful coexistence,” said a statement on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden announced punitive measures against the operating company and its boss Warnig on Wednesday. The Treasury Department in Washington said business with the operator Nord Stream 2 AG must be terminated within a week. In view of the Russian escalation in the Ukraine conflict, the federal government put the project on hold on Tuesday and stopped the approval process for Nord Stream 2 for the time being.
