MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow will seek WTO membership, but it does not want to lose anything in the process, the Russian president said on Tuesday.

"We are determined to join the World Trade Organization... The format may change, and additional agreements may be needed, but we would not want to lose anything from what has been achieved in recent years," Dmitry Medvedev said.

He said Russia's path toward WTO membership had been "long and tortuous."

"Frankly speaking, our patience is running out: It's been 16 years. Let us hope that a reformatting will now enable us to reach agreement soon," the president said.

It was not entirely clear whether Medvedev was referring to Russia on its own or as part of a yet-to-be-formed three-nation customs union striving for joint WTO membership.

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan announced plans in June to join the WTO as a single customs union.

Russia is the world's only major economy still outside the WTO. Consent from all 153 WTO members is necessary for a state to join the organization.

To date, Russia has completed mandatory bilateral negotiations with 60 countries, but has yet to synchronize positions on several issues, including agriculture, export duties for timber, and regulation of some state-controlled companies.