WASHINGTON, March 28 /ITAR-TASS/. Companies from the United States and the European Union will suffer losses from their countries' sanctions with regard to Russia. However, European business will suffer more seriously, Sergei Millian, President of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RACCI), told Itar-Tas in an interview on Thursday.

His estimate is that "If the trend keeps on and the West continues to apply sanctions against and introduce limitations on various sectors of the Russian economy, Europe may lose up to $50 billion in trade with the RF".

"To Europe, Russia is one of key trading partners, whereas the economy of the USA is dependent on the Russian one in a much lesser degree. In view of this, American companies' losses will prove much less serious. They simply can start investing larger resources and giving greater scope to their presence on other markets, those in Africa, for example," Millian pointed out.

He emphasized that "in actual fact the political climate for the development of Russia-US relations was favorable only in the past several years following Washington's abrogation of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment with regard to Moscow". On the whole, Millian said, "Ever since the end of the Second World War, US various sanctions against the Soviet Union, at first, and then against Russia have been always in effect and the latest period is an exception from the rules in this respect".

The main purpose of the RACCI is to develop international contacts between companies from the RF and other member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and American partners. The Chamber represents the interests of its members both on the Russian and American markets. RACCI is a non-governmental organization. It includes about 200 companies most of which are American ones.