Russia and the WTO

The 16-year saga of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization experienced a new development on Friday. At the G8 conference in Italy, President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia will continue negotiations for entering the WTO independently from the trade union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Such a course would contradict earlier statements from Prime Minister Putin, who unexpectedly stated in June that Russia was abandoning its nearly-completed independent WTO accession in order to join as a trade union. US and EU representatives lamented Putin's announcement, noting that this would delay Russia's accession for many years, as all three countries' trade policies would have to be harmonized with WTO requirements. Before Putin's statement, many negotiators thought Russia could join by the end of the year.

Interestingly, a recent poll by VTsIOM showed that 41-44% of Russians think joining the WTO would benefit their country, versus 20% who think it would be against the country's interests.