The Kremlin called on the EU to stop worrying about the security of Russian energy supplies yesterday, and said it would do everything legally possible to ensure Russian companies enjoyed fair access to downstream natural gas and electricity assets in Europe.

The EU is considering measures to prevent some foreign investors, including Russian companies, from taking over European gas and electricity assets amid fears that Russia, the biggest single gas supplier to the region, might grow to dominate distribution networks.

Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin's deputy press secretary, said "measures to discriminate against Russian companies would be totally unfair".

"I don't believe this can be on the agenda. Russia will use any legal means possible in accordance with international law to ensure equal access to markets for its companies," he told reporters.

Mr Peskov said western reaction to Russian companies' foreign expansion had, on occasion, verged on the "near hysterical".

Viewed in a "sober and unemotional" light, Russia's record as a reliable energy supplier was impeccable, he said, adding that, "even at the height of the Cold War, Russia did not once cut off energy supplies [to western Europe]".

Mr Peskov said: "Russia is as interested in supplying Europe as Europe is in receiving gas from us.

"We are mutually interdependent, and that interdependence is a pillar of energy security."

Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled oil monopoly, declined to comment on the EU proposals without first seeing a written text.

Gazprom's strategy is to acquire downstream gas and electricity assets in Europe to stoke demand for Russian gas and increase its market share by diversifying into gas-fired electricity generation.