Russia Says WTO Accession Need Not Include Its Neighbours

When Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was asked about President Obama’s decision to scrap his predecessor’s plans for missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic, Putin said Obama was brave to do so, but wondered when the U.S. leader will help Moscow enter the World Trade Organization. Today, Igor Shuvalov, Russia’s deputy prime minister, was in Washington, among other reasons, to follow up on Putin’s question. The answer (as delivered by United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk): Washington supports Russia’s entry — as long as it is doing so alone. Or as Kirk put it in a statement, he supports Russia’s “individual accession to the WTO.”

What does Kirk mean by that? After all, what other way is there to enter the WTO and regularize better trade terms around the world than to do so alone?

That’s actually what many of the world’s trade diplomats have wondered since June, when Putin abruptly announced that Russia no longer wished to join the WTO — unless it could do so along with Belarus and Kazakhstan. It was puzzling for a few reasons, but mainly because Russia’s accession to the group has been stalled for a decade and a half for both economic and political reasons (on the latter, the U.S. Congress still hasn’t repealed the 1972 Jackson-Vannick Amendment to U.S. trade law, a relic intended to help Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union.); larding Russia’s application with joint applicants could only make it harder. Some wondered whether Putin was simply throwing a deliberate wrench into the fan of Russia’s application. Kirk hinted as much after his meeting with Shuvalov today: “Ambassador Kirk welcomed the prospect of renewed engagement with Russia on its WTO accession negotiations following a period of uncertainty regarding Russia’s intentions.”

But, speaking to reporters today, Shuvalov said the triple application is real, and that Russia hopes to have it approved by next year.

But would a rejection of Belarus’ and Kazakhstan’s simultaneous approval be a deal-killer in Russia’s view? (After all, the Belarus economy, for instance, is nowhere near equivalent in sophistication to Russia’s.) Apparently not. If its two partners were refused, Shuvalov suggested, the presidents of the three countries could get together and decide that Russia could go ahead alone.

On Russia’s application, some of the sticking points include protection of intellectual property; the business practices of Gazprom, the state natural gas monopoly; and a Russian trade blockade with neighbor and WTO member Georgia.