MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Israel will resist external pressure and continue following the line of refraining from applications of economic sanctions against Russia, Russian ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov told TASS in an interview on Thursday.

"It is worth to note that despite strong external pressure, Israel did not toe the mark of the United States and other Western countries and decided not to introduce economic sanctions against Russia. We hope our Israeli partners will continue following this line," the ambassador said.

Bilateral "trade and economic relations are developing steadily," Viktorov noted. "We will seek after reaching the trade turnover level above $3 bln per year in near future," he said.

Trade turnover between the two countries surged by 12.6% year-on-year in January - November 2018 and totaled about $2.5 bln," the diplomat said. "Israel ranks 41st among foreign trade partners of Russia," the ambassador added.

"Projects of establishment of food clusters in the Russian territory with application of Israeli technologies and conversion of industrial facilities and vehicles in the territory of Israel to natural gas fuel with use of Russian technologies are among promising areas of trade and economic cooperation," Viktorov said.