Putin: If Russia's partners want it to be in WTO, they should not take refuge in Georgia issue
MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called on Russia's principal economic partners not to take refuge in Georgia's position at negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if they are interested in Russia's joining it.
"I have a legitimate question: Do our main partners in Europe and the United States want Russia to become a WTO member or not? There is no need to take refuge in the Georgia issue. If they want, they can have this very quickly, especially considering that we have reached a compromise on most issues," Putin said at the Russia Calling investment forum in Moscow on Thursday.
If Russia's main partners do not want this, "then, of course, the problem of Georgia and other problems could be laid on the table."
"What do we hear from our partners now? We hear: Go and come to terms with Georgia. But our Georgian partners have returned to the demands that they presented at the very start of this process. They later withdrew these demands, but now they have presented them again and so toughened their position," Putin said.