Putin’s angry about the WTO

One of the doubts dogging the Russian bid to join the World Trade Organization is whether Russia’s leading politicians can remain committed to the goal. Prime minister Vladimir Putin, in particular, has often been skeptical. And to judge by this outburst last week, that skepticism remains: Russia is growing increasingly frustrated with its 18-year bid ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

One of the doubts dogging the Russian bid to join the World Trade Organization is whether Russia's leading politicians can remain committed to the goal. Prime minister Vladimir Putin, in particular, has often been skeptical. And to judge by this outburst last week, that skepticism remains:

One of the doubts dogging the Russian bid to join the World Trade Organization is whether Russia’s leading politicians can remain committed to the goal. Prime minister Vladimir Putin, in particular, has often been skeptical. And to judge by this outburst last week, that skepticism remains:

Russia is growing increasingly frustrated with its 18-year bid to join the global trade watchdog, and the rules it has already implemented during the accession process have been criticized by domestic manufacturers.

"Why the hell should they take us in if we are implementing all the rules anyway?" Putin said at a government meeting in St. Petersburg.

"We should not do that [implement the rules]. And we should tell our partners that we will not implement anything."

Russia’s $1.5 trillion economy is by far the largest outside the 153-member body. Russia had hoped to wrap up negotiations before the spring session of the WTO’s ruling council at the start of May 2011, but that now looks increasingly unlikely.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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