ST. PETERSBURG, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Sanctions against Russia over Ukraine has not affected trade turnover with the European Union and the United States, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Likhachev told ITAR-TASS on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

“As far as the European Union is concerned, the situation is widely different with different countries,” Likhachev said. “Russian exports are actively growing in some countries, while somewhere the growth has stopped. But in general we see no significant decrease in trade. What we see is connected with exchange rate trends.”

There were no considerable changes in trade relations with the United States either, he said. Exports had been reducing for three years already.

“Imports from the United States have increased over the last two years. Now they have suspended a little,” Likhachev said. “But I think this is a result of exchange fluctuations. It is difficult to talk now about long-lasting effects with the United States. We can only say that this downward sales trend will continue.”

The deputy minister added that: “There is good news on the Asian front: Trade with the Asia-Pacific region is growing very actively, particularly with such countries as China, India, Japan and South Korea.