Putin says Russian-U.S. trade hit hard in 2009 by crisis
NOVO-OGARYOVO. March 19 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that trade between the U.S. and Russia dropped sharply last year due to the global recession.
"Unfortunately, our trade significantly dropped from $36 billion to $16 billion because of the economic crisis last year," Putin said at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday.
Relations with the U.S. are of special significance to Russia, Putin said.
But he added that sanctions applied to a number of Russian companies operating in the U.S. had still not been lifted.
"A number of our companies are under sanctions that were initiated by your agency," he reminded Clinton.