Thursday, March 30 2006 12:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday (Mar 29, 2006) accused the United States of deliberately blocking Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by adding new demands.

"We have received a list of questions from our American colleagues that require additional agreements that we thought had been settled long ago. The negotiations process is being artificially rolled back," Putin said at a Kremlin meeting with Russia's top businessmen.

Under WTO regulations, Russia must sign bilateral agreements with all members of the 58-nation WTO Working Party, including India, established to monitor its accession.

The United States is the most important country with which Russia has still to complete negotiations.

Putin said Russia remained interested in joining the WTO. He, however, added, "We will take this step if it satisfies all participants in the process, and primarily Russia and the Russian economy."

Current Russia-US negotiations are stalled over access to Russia's financial market. The Russian economy ministry and banking officials have warned that Russia's banking system is unprepared to compete with foreign banks.

Maxim Medvedkov, Russia's top negotiator at the WTO talks, said last week that the foreign-interest ceiling would be raised to 50 per cent from the current 25 per cent if the US stopped insisting that its banks and insurance companies have the right to open branches in Russia.