The article considers the aims and practices of the United States’ foreign assistance provided to other, especially developing, states. The aims include the promotion of the international development, on the one hand, and the achievement of US own national interests in security, economic and political spheres, on the other hand. Official foreign assistance (OFA) of the United States is divided into two types: economic assistance and military-technical one. Currently, the USA is the world's largest donor of both types of the official foreign assistance. This author discusses structure and factors influencing the OFA provided to the developing countries, as well as the experience of cooperation in this sphere between Russia and the United States.