German lawmakers agreed to strip former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of his office and staff after he maintained and defended his longstanding ties to Russia and its energy sector despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the AP reported.
Sven Kindler, the finance policy spokesman for the Greens, one of the ruling parties, tweeted that the parliamentary budget committee had approved a rule change that would put Schroeder's office "on hold".
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The former chancellor will still be entitled to bodyguards and a pension.
The move was expected after lawmakers from the ruling coalition, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, Schröder's party, proposed a day earlier that some of the privileges enjoyed by former chancellors be linked to their actual duties rather than their status as former leaders.
The proposal did not explicitly mention Schroeder's ties to Russian companies or Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Schröder, 78, led Germany from 1998 to 2005. He has become increasingly isolated in recent months because of his work for state-controlled Russian energy companies.
He is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian state energy company Rosneft, and was also involved in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline projects.
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