When it comes to energy, Tony Blair has tried to do with Gazprom what the Spanish government is seeking to do with Germany's Eon - changing mid-course from an open market approach in the name of national interest.

But in the case of the Russians there is a slight difference. For it is one thing for a private company such as Eon to expand and gain a powerful position in another market, and quite another for a state-run company to do so.