Russia ready to restrict itself only upon its admission to WTO: Putin

MOSCOW, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to restrict itself to the limitations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), only after Moscow's admission to the organization, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"Restrictions related to the accession (to the WTO) must not be applied before the accession is complete," Putin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

The Russian prime minister said his country would not agree to the situations when "the accession process may last forever, and we will keep accepting restrictions without using full membership benefits."

"This process (accession to WTO) must be synchronized with our customs union partners," said Putin, referring to the creation of a customs bloc between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Earlier this week, Putin said Moscow was unlikely to join the WTO by the projected date of Jan. 1, 2011.

The same day, Russian agriculture minister Yelena Skrynnik assured that the accession talks with the U.S. would be finished by Thursday. Moscow has previously accused Washington of blocking its way to the WTO.

She said that the government would not slash financial support for farmers down to below 9 billion U.S. dollars per year.

Last Friday, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Russia would successfully complete talks on joining the WTO in the next few weeks.
In 2009, Moscow, Minsk and Astana that have formed a customs union announced that they were going to join the WTO as a single entity. However, Moscow claimed later that Russia might seek membership into the WTO separately.

Russia, which has been seeking WTO membership for more than 15 years, is the largest economy remaining outside the global trade watchdog.

2010-09-30 19:27:32
Editor: Mo Hong'e
Source: English.news.cn