Everybody who is anybody is spending today at the 2007 World Energy Congress in Rome, including Alexander Medvedev of Gazprom. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines, he talked about all the power generating assets that his company was looking forward to buying in Europe, as well as taking on a bigger stake in TNK-BP, a rumor which again the British side has denied (the inability to speak transparently about Gazprom’s interest in TNK-BP is almost Russian in its fantastical denial). Isn’t it interesting that Gazprom always seems to be so interested in investing in countries whose national energy champions are painfully exposed to the Russian state, like BP and ENI? As the authors of the new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations point out, “Russia has strengthened its political relationships by recruiting big business to act as a lobbyist for the Russian cause inside key EU countries.” Perhaps they are also counting on their “lobbyists” to help them navigate and overcome the political opposition to Kremlin-owned energy in the UK and Italy?