Brussels, 13/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Russia's about-turn now appears official. Following the statement by Russia's main economic advisor, Arkadi Dvorkovich, who provided assurance on 8 July that Russia might again opt for accession to the WTO as an individual entity, the country's president, Dmitri Medvedev, gave some reassurance at a press conference (on the results of the G8 in L'Aquila) to the EU and US (who are pulling out all the stops to speed up the process) that it would be “simpler and more realistic” for Russia to join the WTO on its own rather than through a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Mr Medvedev believes that Russia has two options on the table for becoming a member of the multilateral organisation governing world trade. He explained that “the first consists of joining as a customs union, which would be quite good, but quite difficult, according to our colleagues carrying out the process for the WTO. We can also find an agreement on the general standards at the customs union Troika and join separately, which I think is simpler and more realistic”. In June, Moscow shocked everyone by announcing its intention to no longer join the WTO individually but as part of a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. The WTO's director general, Pascal Lamy, said that he was concerned by the decision, which was criticised by both the US and EU. (E.H./transl.rh)