Foreign players keen to invest in Russian energy resources will be given more clarity on the rules of the game, Russia promised yesterday, as the country moves to ease concerns over its ambitions.

Russia has been laying on an unprecedented charm offensive at the World Economic Forum this year, using the gathering of the world's most influential politicians and financiers to clean up an international image tarnished by trade and energy spats and by a messy dispute over the Sakhalin oil and gas project.

First deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Kremlin high-flyer tipped as a presidential hopeful for the 2008 elections, said legislation was already being prepared to clarify the Russian state's position and avoid future rows.

"It is clear we have started to pay more attention to how we manage our natural wealth and in which conditions that wealth is managed - that is a fact," Mr Medvedev said on the sidelines of a forum that has seen him take a leading role in representing the country.

"At the moment, our legislation does not have any special restriction on the presence of foreign capital in energy. We are planning to prepare a document that will state the Russian position, to make it clear and understandable."

Russia has been accused of using arcane tax or environmental rules to target foreign companies investing in major oil projects, including Royal Dutch Shell, which was forced to cede part of its Sakhalin-2 project to state gas monopoly Gazprom last year.

But even Gazprom has been at pains this week to clean up its image in the European energy sector, with deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev taking to the floor in an open panel to reassure investors.

"There is nothing to be afraid of," he told the audience. "We are just looking for value for shareholders, including the Russian government . . . Transparency is not just a slogan for Gazprom, it is a code of conduct."

There are still concerns, financiers admit privately, with some political turbulence feared ahead of next year's election. But the audience of investment bankers, corporate heavyweights and tycoons is receptive to the Russian message.

"A couple of years ago, it was about the occasional piece of business," a US investment banker said. "Now you can't afford to ignore it." - (Reuters)