By Amanda Lahan, Account Manager, The PBN Company, Washington, DC

Since our post yesterday on the apparent progress made in Russia’s WTO accession process, a wrench has been thrown into the works.  Prime Minister Putin announced on June 9 that Russia would withdraw its WTO application and instead reapply as a part of a trade bloc with Kazakhstan and Belarus.  In a joint statement by all three countries Putin said, “Our priority remains WTO entry, we confirm this, but already as a customs union and not as separate countries.”  Reapplication would require starting all WTO negotiations from scratch, meaning it could be years before the Customs Union entered the WTO.

The news came as a surprise to US and EU officials, who had just been speaking with Russian officials about their WTO bid several days ago.

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