MOSCOW, September 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian crisis benefits the United States and NATO because it allows them to weaken America’s economic competitor - the European Union, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

“My four-year work in Brussels (as Russian Ambassador to the Alliance) permits me to prove that many people in NATO are very pleased with the development of events in Ukraine and tense relations with Russia,” he said.

Such situation allows the United States “to get additional money for defense, that is, for the US-made arms purchase”, Rogozin said.

”It also gives a possibility for the United States to weaken Europe itself by pushing its economic competitor into the conflict with Russia and justify the need for the NATO existence in order to boost the military presence in Europe and the master role in European economic affairs,” he said.

The US policy is supported by the Baltic States and several East European countries because they hope to get dividends, Rogozin said.

For Western Europe, “the virtual war” around the Ukrainian crisis is a method for diverting citizens’ attention from economic stagnation.