German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is undertaking nothing short of a revolution for his country’s foreign and security policy in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion. Evidence that Mr. Scholz is serious came Thursday as he tackled his own party’s biggest Russia embarrassment.

That is the person of Gerhard Schröder, former chancellor. Mr. Schröder, like Mr. Scholz a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), has spent the years since leaving office in 2005 as a highly paid political fixer and brand ambassador...

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder.

Photo: Kay Nietfeld/Zuma Press

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is undertaking nothing short of a revolution for his country’s foreign and security policy in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion. Evidence that Mr. Scholz is serious came Thursday as he tackled his own party’s biggest Russia embarrassment.

That is the person of Gerhard Schröder, former chancellor. Mr. Schröder, like Mr. Scholz a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), has spent the years since leaving office in 2005 as a highly paid political fixer and brand ambassador for Russian energy companies. He is chairman of Rosneft, was appointed last month to the board of Gazprom, and holds senior posts with companies responsible for the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural-gas pipelines.

Those lucrative jobs mark Mr. Schröder as the highest-profile Putinversteher (roughly, “Putin whisperer”) in the Russophile SPD, and in German politics broadly. For a former leader to adopt such a role is a national, party and personal disgrace.

Now Mr. Scholz is telling Mr. Schröder to stop. “I think it is not right for Gerhard Schröder to hold those positions,” Mr. Scholz said in a televised interview Thursday. “And I think it would be right for him to give them up.” Mr. Scholz dismissed the common excuse that Mr. Schröder is only a private citizen, noting that a chancellor’s public service doesn’t end when he leaves office.

The current chancellor appears to have his party behind him. Co-leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken on Thursday called on Mr. Schröder to resign from his Russian posts, and reported that one letter has been submitted to Mr. Schröder’s local SPD office in Hanover asking for his party membership to be revoked.

It’s fair to ask what took them so long, and the answer explains why it’s so significant that Mr. Scholz is doing this now. The SPD has always been home for those who favored warmer relations with Moscow—the party’s Willy Brandt brought the world Ostpolitik of rapprochement with the Soviets in the 1960s. Mr. Schröder also maintained influence within the party as the SPD’s most recent electoral success before Mr. Scholz.

By taking aim at an SPD graybeard for pro-Russia buck-raking, Mr. Scholz is showing he recognizes his strategy revolution will require a change of heart and culture within his own party. He still faces a difficult political challenge in persuading the left, but calling out Mr. Schröder is an essential start.

As Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine intensifies, Western markets hold up, but Russia’s financial system takes a beating. Meanwhile, Europe's reliance on Russia for energy complicates the West's strategy. Images: Reuters/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition