BERLIN, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A new book sheds light into the dark corners inside the Russian energy giant Gazprom and lays open its deep internal interconnections with the Kremlin as well as the Russian intelligence realm.

Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian energy giant that employs some 400,000 people is a key player in the Russian power hierarchy.

According to Russian opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, whoever controls Gazprom controls the entire country.

"Gazprom is not a subject, but an object in the Russian election campaign," Ryzhkov is quoted in "Gazprom -- Pipeline Power," by German-Russian journalist Gemma Poerzgen, published by the Europaeische Verlagsanstalt, a Hamburg, Germany-based publishing house.

That this statement (made some months ago) has at least some truth to it is demonstrated by the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin just nominated as his successor Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of the supervisory board at Gazprom.