EU asks Russia for clarification on WTO accession issue

Brussels, June 10 (Xinhua Zhang Bihong) The European Commission said in Brussels on 10th that the EU was asking Russia to clarify its membership of the World Trade Organization.　　Lutz Gurna, a spokesman for the European Commission, said at a news briefing on the same day that the EU was asking Russia to clarify how it would advance its WTO accession process and to discuss the issue on a multidimensional basis with the Russian side in recent days. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced 9th in Moscow, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, 3 countries will start as a unified customs union to enter the World Trade Organization negotiations, and 3 countries will also end the accession to the separate negotiations. That has surprised and regretted the EU's desire to join the WTO as soon as possible.　　Qurnah said that just a few days ago, Russia was also at a ministerial meeting with the European Union to confirm that Russia intends to complete the accession negotiations before the end of the year. Russia began its WTO accession negotiations in 1993, but progress has been slow. To this end, the Russian leadership has repeatedly proposed that will give up the WTO. Some media believe that Russia's accession to the WTO with Belarus and Kazakhstan may only be the means adopted by Russia, is intended to pressure the negotiating partners to complete the accession negotiations as soon as possible.