MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russian companies are not given a level playing field in the West, Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday.

Sergei Lavrov said 13 acquisition and merger deals worth a total of $50 billion had fallen through recently because of discriminatory measures against Russian companies in Europe.

"This shows Europe's attitude toward Russian businesses, which sees them as serious competitors," the minister said in a speech addressed to leaders of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the country's largest business lobby.

"This has to be countered, and we will do that together," he said.

Many in Russia's political and business elites agree that the bias highlighted by Lavrov was precisely why Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov's Severstal steel company lost its battle for Arcelor last June to Indian competitor Mittal Steel.

Westerners are increasingly concerned about Russia's use of its hefty energy revenues to buy assets abroad. They fear the Kremlin may be seeking to gain a foothold in some of Europe's strategic industries through merger and acquisition deals with local heavyweights.

President Vladimir Putin has tried to allay those fears, sparked last September by a Russian state-owned bank's snap purchase of a 5% stake in Airbus parent company EADS, by saying Russia has no "aggressive" intentions to gain control over Europe's largest aerospace company or other major groups.