WASHINGTON, October 13. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk will travel to the United States within the next few days to meet with US administration officials and businessmen, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday.

"Russian-US economic cooperation and pragmatic interaction at the level of companies continue. These days Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk will be on a visit to the US capital city. He is going to meet representatives of the US administration and businesspeople specifically to discuss the issues of bilateral trade and investments," the ambassador said at the opening of the Annual Meeting of the US-Russia Business Council via videoconference.

The Russian diplomat described the United States as "one of the leading economic partners of Russia." This year, the amount of operations "may be close to the 30-billion threshold," he said.

Antonov added that according to various estimates, more than 1,100 companies with American capital are operating in Russia. "I would like to assure you that Russian authorities are not going to punish Western business for "unfriendly" decisions of its governments," he continued.

"We are confident that today, in the dialogue with the United States, it is the economic ties that carry a significant stabilizing potential for the entire complex of bilateral relations," the diplomat said.