MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - The United States is interested in seeing Russia increasing its oil production and its energy exports, U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Boyden Gray said.

"We believe that Russia can and should expand its own supply and help us in the Caspian [to] expand supply there. We have no thoughts of trying to constrain Russia as a supplier. To the contrary, we'd like to see Russia expand as a supplier," Gray said in an interview with Interfax.

The diplomat was skeptical about allegations that Russia might use its energy supplies as a means to exert political influence on its neighbors, particularly the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania.

"When I was posted in Brussels I did hear a lot not just from them, but from our ambassadors in these countries, more a fear I think than a reality," he said.

"I don't think we have said either that Russia used its energy resources as a political tool, but one thing for sure to make sure that couldn't happen is to work with Russia to expand its supply," he said.

"As I say, the best way to deal with it is to have an expanding tie, and it's hard to threaten someone if you are growing. That is I think the best remedy for this concern on the part of these countries for what might happen, and as I say the best way to make sure it never does or could is to see that Russia manages its own resources with the greatest efficiency and transparency," he said.

Making sure that Russia's oil production grows is among the priorities of energy cooperation between the U.S. and Russia, he said.

"One of them [priorities] is to make sure that Russian production grows rather than contracts. There is a lot of concern in the U.S. as there is in Europe that oil production has peaked and will be going down without any major new investment," he said.

The same is true as regards natural gas, Gray said.

"This does not affect the U.S. directly, as we are not a consumer. I think we'd like to be in the future [], but we are not now consumers of Russian gas and oil," he said.

"We are not directly engaged in this. Our companies are, of course, but as a country we are not direct consumers the way Europeans are," he said.

"We would like to see and we hope that these opportunities are continually made available and that Russia will grow rather than contract in terms of where you can supply our friends in Europe," he said.

The full version of the interview will be available later at www.interfax.ru.