Vladimir Putin said the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik Amendment that restricts U.S. trade with Russia was an "anachronism" hindering Russia's World Trade Organization accession bid.
Speaking during an annual question-and-answer session with Russians on Thursday, Prime Minister Putin said the country continues to seek accession to the WTO, but "we have an impression that for some reason some countries, including the United States, are hindering our entry to the WTO."
Russia, the only major economy outside the WTO, has been seeking membership for 16 years.
Putin said the 1974 amendment that tied trade relations to emigration rights in the Soviet Union has been used by lobby groups in the U.S. Congress pursuing their own tapered interests. "We have to live with that," he added.
Putin reiterated that Russia could seek membership in the WTO together with Belarus and Kazakhstan, with which it has agreed to create a customs union with common tariffs, paving the way for a single economic space, or separately, but taking into account the ex-Soviet states' common interests.
"The chief priority to us is post-Soviet integration, and we welcome the process taking place in the Customs Union," he said.
MOSCOW, December 3 (RIA Novosti)
