The United States "is also seeking to build up its economic advantage at the current sensitive stage of its post-crisis recovery and fill the niches emerging on the Russian and other markets," the Russian diplomat said.

BRUSSELS, February 16. /TASS/. The United States is the main beneficiary of a sanctions war between the European Union and Russia as this standoff weakens the economies of its competitors, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the EU Vladimir Chizhov said on Monday.

"Our trade with the EU traditionally exceeded trade volumes with the US 11-12 times and in the best years our trade hit a billion euros a day. The preliminary results of 2014 show that our trade with the EU fell by 10-11%. Not only the sanctions but also falling oil prices are a cause for that," the Russian diplomat said.

"Oil accounts for 36% of our exports while gas incidentally makes up only 9%. Meanwhile, our trade with the United States has grown, including US exports to Russia that have increased by almost 20%, according to some data. This cannot but testify to the US attempts to edge Europeans out of the Russian market," the envoy said.

"Europeans often lose their positions in Russia even to a larger extent than it could be expected. This happens because many European exporter companies have to look back at the US. Part of them depend on US banks, American patents and spare parts. Consequently, they have to play it safe to avoid US restrictive measures for contacts with Russian partners," the diplomat said.