When the man destined to become Russia’s next president declared a devotion to Deep Purple it was inevitable that the British rock legends would be summoned to the Kremlin.

On Monday night the band played Smoke on the Water and other hits for Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow. Polite applause and tapped feet replaced headbanging and air guitar, but there was no mistaking Mr Medvedev’s enthusiasm for his boyhood idols.

Officially the concert marked the 15th anniversary of Gazprom, the Russian energy group. But insiders described it as a farewell gift to Mr Medvedev, who will stand down as Gazprom chairman when he becomes president after elections on March 2 that are regarded as a formality.

Mr Medvedev, 42, was only 3 when Deep Purple was formed in Hertfordshire in 1968. He told Russian television that he had listened to bootleg tape recordings of his favourite band as a teenager in the Soviet Union, when Western rock music was forbidden.

“It would be completely surreal to imagine that I would meet this legendary band in the Kremlin, but it happened,” he said as he posed with band members.

Mr Medvedev now claims to own original vinyl versions of all of Deep Purple’s albums. Of the bootleg recordings that first fired his imagination, he once declared: “The quality was awful, but my interest colossal.”

The rare display of Anglo-Russian harmony was staged in the State Kremlin Palace, which seats 6,000 people and hosted meetings of the Communist Party Congress in Soviet times. A large screen in the hall added a surreal touch by showing slides of 1970s antiwar protests to the assembly of middle-aged executives. Tina Turner also performed some of her hits, which included Simply the Best.

Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s chief executive, clapped along with Mr Medvedev as Deep Purple, minus guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who quit the band in 1993, played seven songs. Sergei Ivanov, the First Deputy Prime Minister and a former KGB agent, who was once regarded as a contender to succeed Vladimir Putin, sat near by. Mr Putin is not known to be a fan of heavy metal. He attended the opening of the gala event but did not stay to hear Deep Purple, who were once named the world’s loudest band by Guinness World Records.

The Kremlin has been accused of using Gazprom as a weapon to bully neighbouring states in disputes over gas prices. But a conflict with Ukraine was averted only minutes before a deadline for cutting off supplies yesterday.

Talks at the Kremlin between Mr Putin and Ukraine’s President Yushchenko produced an agreement to settle Ukraine’s debt of $1.5 billion (£750 million) to Gazprom.

The company had given warning that it would halt supplies of Russian gas, covering 25 per cent of Ukraine’s needs, unless the debt was paid by 6pm last night.

“Gazprom is satisfied with the offers made by the Ukrainian side. We have agreed on the principles of cooperation,” Mr Putin said. “We have agreed that Ukraine will start paying off the debt starting Thursday,” Mr Yushchenko added.

Gazprom had set a deadline originally for Monday night, but pushed it back 24 hours. Some observers said that it had been reluctant to spoil Mr Medvedev’s evening by starting a dispute with Ukraine during the Deep Purple concert.

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