An activist of the rally staged in Moscow by United Russia holds poster reading: "Estonia is the shame of Europe!"
Photo: Mikhail Razuvaev
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Anti-Estonian Campaign of Moscow to Slow Down WTO Admission
The European Voice has made public a confidential document agreed by the European Commission, the secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the German presidency. The matter at stake is the EU threat to abandon its support for the WTO entry bid of Russia unless Moscow meets core demands of the EU. Amid other things, the EU bureaucrats are increasingly uneasy about the anti-Estonian campaign that is underway in Russia.
At the EU-Russian summit slated for May 18, President Vladimir Putin is likely to be told that support for Russia’s WTO membership can be halted if trade disagreements persist.
The major impediments are Poland’s refusal to seal bilateral agreement because of the Russian ban on imports of Polish meat. The second hurdle is Lithuanian demand to resume crude oil deliveries to the country and the third one is the anti-Estonian campaign that is at full blast in Russia and that has been triggered by transfer of the Statue of Red Army Bronze Soldier from downtown Tallinn to the military cemetery.
Russia sealed the bilateral agreement with the EU far back in 2004. The country would join the WTO by the year-end, Economic Development Minister German Gref forecasted at the start of the year. But the Kremlin has been making similar forecasts for a few years running.
www.kommersant.com
|
|
|
