'More realistic' for Russia to join WTO on own: Medvedev

President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that it would be simpler and more realistic for Russia to join the World Trade Organisation on its own rather than as part of a three-nation bid.

President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that it would be simpler and more realistic for Russia to join the World Trade Organisation on its own rather than as part of a three-nation bid.

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"Joining separately seems to me simpler and more realistic," said Medvedev at a press conference at the end of a G8 summit.

Russia began negotiations to join the WTO in 1993 but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced last month that Moscow would alter its accession bid and seek membership as a single customs bloc with Kazakhstan and Belarus.