Berlin
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder came under fire this week for accepting a plum job heading up a Russian gas pipeline. Just before Schröder stepped down as chancellor this fall, he negotiated the pipeline deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. German politicians of various parties chided Schröder for an apparent conflict of interest. “It is to be hoped that Schröder would do the job without payment,” said Rainer Bruderle of the Free Democrats. “Otherwise there would be the suspicion that Putin created a job to reward Schröder.” Several newspapers pointed out that Schröder was much less vocal than other European leaders in criticizing Russia’s crackdown in Chechnya or Putin’s takeover of the giant Yukos oil company.
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