MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Europe is becoming a branch of both strategic and economic interests of the United States, senior Russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov told a roundtable on Tuesday on the ways to resolve crisis in Europe.

“I think Europe could face not only a challenge to its independence to which it unfortunately fails to respond adequately, but will also have to deal with a challenge to its economic independence,” said Pushkov, who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

Pushkov said the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), pushed by the US and EU leadership, will “subdue Europe to the United States economically, and make European consumers fully dependent on the American system of standards — ranging from food items to ecology.”

“Now this is less evident amid the noise around Ukraine as few people notice how Europe is turning into a branch of not only strategic, but also economic interests of the US,” Pushkov said.

The planned free trade agreements between Europe and the United States have been clouded by uncertainty, after a proposed draft was leaked in March 2014. The EU has launched a public consultation on controversial clauses.