Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor turned advocate for the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom, said on Thursday he would be paid 250,000 euros (US$303,000) a year as chairman of the committee of shareholders of a controversial project to pipe Russian gas directly to Germany.
The north European gas pipeline (NEGP) will link Gazprom's massive network and abundant reserves directly to Germany. Schroeder came in for intense criticism in Germany when he accepted a post on the Gazprom board just after leaving office.
His opponents suggested that his close ties with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had both helped usher the project into existence and secured him a leading role on its board.
His appointment was seen as a public relations coup for the monopoly, lending western respectability to an industry still struggling with its international image.
Schroeder let slip his salary in Moscow on Thursday at which he seemed rattled and lacking his usual smoothness before journalists.
The press conference was due to last an hour but was over in 20 minutes.
He parried further questions about the ethics of his new job by stressing the need for the pipe.
"The pipeline is not aimed against anyone. It allows us to ensure the reliable supply of gas to Europe," he said.
He denied there was anything inappropriate about his post.
The NEGP will deliver cheap gas to Germany, and possibly Britain, when it is extended. It will travel from the Russian port of Vyborg to Greifswald in Germany via the Baltic Sea, bypassing the Baltic states and Poland, which used to receive fees for the fuel's passage.
The NEGP is a joint venture between Gazprom, the German energy firm E.ON and BASF, the German conglomerate.
Tropical Storm Koinu is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Wednesday through Friday as it passes through the Bashi Channel, but it remained uncertain how it would affect the weather, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am yesterday, Koinu was about 1,000km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 12kph, the CWA said. Koinu is likely to strengthen into a typhoon today or tomorrow and turn west as it enters the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan proper, CWA forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. The storm’s trajectory is still unclear, so more time is
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PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
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