The WTO (World Trade Organization) was created to regulate trade and economic relations between countries and liberalize world trade. On December 16, 2011, at the Ministerial Conference, after 19 years of negotiations, Russia was admitted to this organization.
On July 10, 2012, at a meeting of the State Duma, deputies by a majority vote ratified the protocol on Russia's accession to the WTO, and only members of the United Russia voted in favor. All the other Duma factions were against: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the SR, the Liberal Democratic Party. The deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the SR tried to delay the ratification, for which they submitted a request to the Constitutional Court about the compliance of this act with the Basic Law of the country. According to the applicants, accession to the WTO endangers the national and economic security of Russia. As expected, the Constitutional Court did not find any violations and recognized the agreement as legal.
Opposition parties have strong arguments to defend their position. The WTO limits protectionism, i.e. protection by the state of its producers. However, in the developed countries, which mainly benefit from WTO membership, rigid protectionism was the state policy during the modernization of the economy and production. Russian industry is in urgent need of modernization, however, in the absence of state protection, it will inevitably lose to cheaper and higher quality imports.
Europe expects the second wave of the crisis, which will affect our country as well. Russia's ailing economy, completely dependent on the sale of raw materials, in the absence of a competitive industry, the upcoming shocks will affect much more severely than the European one. The Duma opposition considers entry into the WTO in such conditions a very dangerous step for the country.
V. Zhirinovsky on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party said that the time of the WTO has long passed, and this organization will soon disintegrate. Therefore, his party sees no point in joining a dying organization and will vote against the ratification of the treaty.
Russian agrarians expect serious troubles from joining the WTO, since agreements with it provide for a reduction in state support for agriculture. These agreements also provide for the equalization of external and internal gas prices. Thus, Russia will face an inevitable rise in prices for all products that are produced using gas fuel.
