Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Tuesday confirmed he would serve in the Russian-German gas pipeline company, but denied he was paid an annual salary of one million euros (1.19 million US dollars).

"Money has not even been discussed yet," Schroeder told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The former chancellor, who resigned last month, signed the contract with Russia in summer and currently plans to join the board of the joint venture.

Schroeder said the report that he was paid one million euros "had no basis in fact" and the reported salary is "clearly too high."

The former chancellor stressed that he viewed it as "an honor" to work for the pipeline project, which is very important for Germany's energy security.

Earlier, the German news agency DPA said former Hamburg Major Henning Voscherau backed Schroeder's plan to work for the pipeline.

"Our country has few natural resources and practically every job here depends on imported energy," Voscherau said in a commentary published on another German newspaper Die Welt.

"So let's end this false sense of morality and end this bigotry.Schroeder's appointment to the post is an honor to him and useful for us. So let's be happy for him and for Germany," he wrote.

Reports said two German companies, the E.ON and BASF, together hold a 49 percent share in the four-billion-euro project while Russia's Gasprom has 51 percent.

On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the project of the North European gas pipeline "will ensure energy security of Europe and the world."

"We continue to develop steadily our cooperation with Germany in the energy sphere, and we are optimistic about the future," Fradkov said at the ceremony of welding the first joint of the pipeline, which was held in Vologda Region, northeast of Moscow .

He said serious preparatory work had been done and the project would create a lot of new jobs in the Russian regions by whose territory it would go through.

Source: Xinhua