Germany, Yukos, and Baikal

Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer for the Yukos energy firm, has accused Deutsche Bank of co-financing the illegal break-up of Yukos and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of turning a blind eye to the proceedings. Der Spiegel Online reports on Amsterdam’s allegations as follows (link in German - hat tip and thanks to Niko) :

Amsterdam claims that Schröder knows who is behind the Baikal Finance Group, which in a surprise development won the bidding for Yuganskneftegas, the most important production unit of Yukos. But Germany’s energy interests with respect to Russia militate against adopting a critical position.

“Germany’s energy interests with respect to Russia”? But isn’t it only the United States that has energy interests in the region? Think again. Here is some useful background [in English!] from german-foreign-policy.com.