The CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom Alexei Miller has invited former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi to head the company to build and operate the South Stream gas pipeline, Russian daily Kommersant reported on April 28, quoting a source familiar with the matter.

In a report later that day, however, Reuters argued that the proposal came from outgoing Russian president Vladimir Putin and was turned down by Prodi.

Weeks ago Prodi announced he would withdraw from politics immediately after he lost the last parliamentary elections to Silvio Berlusconi.

Some analysts argued that Gazprom mulled the creation of a group of affiliated companies in Western Europe. All companies were apparently intended to be run by former political leaders, K2Kapital reported. The next head to be hunted by Gazprom is Jacques Chirac.

According to German media, the attraction of former politicians in the gas business for lofty remuneration aims to give Gazprom a politico-economic edge in its fight against rival project Nabucco and mainly to overcome the political resistance toward Gazprom projects from EU member states and EU anti-trust authorities.