German ex-leader Schmidt, master of realpolitik, dead at 96

Former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who died Tuesday aged 96, was an inveterate European, master of realpolitik, and straight-talking elder statesman who commanded respect and headlines into his twilight years.

Schmidt led then-West Germany from 1974 to 1982 as it rose to become a global economic powerhouse.

A centrist from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Schmidt steered the country through a bloody wave of terror by far-left radicals from the Red Army Faction, preached free-market economics to his party and embodied cool-headed pragmatic politics in a Europe riven by the Iron Curtain.

French President Francois Hollande led the tributes to Schmidt, saying "a great European has died".

Co-publisher of the influential liberal weekly Die Zeit, Schmidt continued to play an active part in international economic debate, including criticising conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel during the eurozone debt crisis for lacking financial savvy.

He was a popular guest on television chat shows, always granted special dispensation to flout a smoking ban while holding forth with the laconic brand of wit prized in his native port city of Hamburg.

From early on in his political career, Schmidt was capable of sarcasm and impatience, and his delivery of often unconventional views kept him in the public eye decades after retiring.

German media recently grouped him among "Russia apologists" after he expressed understanding for President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine.

As a political commentator, conservative daily Die Welt said, Schmidt's "bite and punchline" earned him great respect across the political spectrum.