The number of American tourists visiting Russia has grown significantly this year, while Russian exports have also performed well, the Russian Trade Representative in the United States, Aleksander Stadnik, told Sputnik.

"Today, American tourists visiting our country rank third after Chinese and German tourists. Since the beginning of the year, the total flow of tourists from the United States to Russia has grown by a quarter," Stadnik said on Thursday.

Stadnik noted that between 270,000 and 280,000 US tourists visited Russia in 2017.

"That is nearly double the number of tourists from the United States in 2013, after their number decreased in 2014 and 2015," Stadnik noted.

Russia-US relations have deteriorated since 2014 after the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea's reunification with Russia. The United States and some of its allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia.

In addition, the United States has accused Russia of meddling in its 2016 presidential election. Russia has repeatedly refuted allegations of meddling and called the claims groundless.