RusEnergy

June 20, 2006 - Kommersant - The speech of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was the obvious highlight of Renaissance Capital's 10th Annual Investors Conference in Moscow June 19, 2006. It appears Schroeder has nothing to hide, neither his engagement by Russia, nor mistakes of the West or even the amount of €250,000 remuneration. The interest of investors in Schroeder’s speech at the conference arranged by Renaissance Capital hardly roots in his former political standing of the German chancellor or even in today’s office of a top manager of Gazprom’s North European Gas Pipeline Co. Schroeder is very close to the masterminds of political and economic decisions in Russia and he is viewed as the key lobbyist of Russia in the E.U. and worldwide. This spring, Schroeder was elected to chair the supervisory board of Swiss North European Gas Pipeline Company (NEGPC), where he represents Gazprom, holder of 51 percent. Yesterday, the former chancellor made clear Europe will depend on the crude in the following decades and Russia has been always a very reliable supplier. There is no energy partner comparable to Russia, Europe is well aware of it and shouldn’t pretend the Russians are to be thankful for the permission to ship crude and gas to Europe, Schroeder said.