European elections: Putin sends sherpas to the Czech Republic

On Monday the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a visit to Prague, and today, Tuesday, former chancellor Gerhard Schröder will visit the Czech capital. Both came with the goal of supporting their Social Democratic colleague Jiří Paroubek in the European elections, writes the conservative daily Lidové Noviny: "Paroubek's assurances that Lisbon is a good thing for the Czechs has one drawback. Both his friends belong to the Russian wing of German politics. If Europe were to work according to their wishes, the big EU countries would agree on matters over the heads of the smaller countries in the 'buffer zone' between Germany and Russia. ... Is Schröder nothing more than a commendable politician? Is he not paid from revenues of the Russian energy company Gazprom? That adds a whole new twist to his slogan 'Lisbon or Moscow'. But at least we know why Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin didn't come in person. No doubt he doesn't have the time, so he sent his sherpas instead."

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