SOCHI, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - Political squabbles between Russia and the United States should not affect their trade, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday.

Speaking at a roundtable meeting with American businessmen on the sidelines of an investment forum in the Black Sea resort Sochi, Andrei Denisov said: "We hope the pragmatism and common sense of the current and future U.S. administrations will prevail, and we will continue cooperation in all areas."

Relations between the two former Cold War foes strained over the Georgia conflict last month. Washington said it might scrap a civil nuclear deal with Russia as punishment for its invasion of Georgia and recognition of breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia, which argued it responded to Georgian aggression to retake South Ossetia, accused the U.S. and other Western states of provoking the armed conflict by supporting the President Mikheil Saakashvili regime and supplying it with arms.

Russia banned poultry imports from 19 U.S. producers on September 1 citing their failure to meet sanitary standards. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the ban was not political.

Denisov said ties with the U.S. have been "among Russia's major priorities irrespective of the political weather."