MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Moscow has been boosting military cooperation with Europe, including Germany, despite blackmail on the part of Washington, Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Defense Committee Chairman and former Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Airborne Troops Vladimir Shamanov told reporters on Thursday.

On Tuesday, US Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert said at a briefing that the US administration was pleased that "some countries have stopped the purchase of certain Russian materials and supplies."

"We believe somewhere north of $3 billion - we’ve been able to stop those transactions. Stopping transactions like that is, in effect, a punishment. Why? Because that means less money goes into Russian coffers. So that is considered a part of what we view as a success in holding Russia accountable," she added.

"They [the Americans] have been making attempts at blackmailing, so now many countries, including those in the Western Europe, realize that their interests are being damaged," Shamanov said, commenting on Nauert’s statements.

"Despite these blackmail attempts, we have been boosting our cooperation with Germany, we can see that many Eastern European states and the Balkan countries have also taken an active position," the senior Russian lawmaker pointed out. According to Shamanov, "today, many countries seem to realize that the idea of a unilateral world is bound to be a failure."