President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that Russia will not withdraw state subsidies for farmers if it joins the WTO, which Moscow hopes will happen later this year after 18 years of accession talks. Russia is the biggest economy outside the World Trade Organisation and Medvedev's comments underlined its robust stand on free trade rules.
"We are not talking about any restrictions on state support of agricultural producers after accession to the WTO," Medvedev told a meeting on crops and grain markets. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia would not give up new rules for vehicle assembly for major global manufacturers to win WTO entry.