INTERNATIONAL: The Russian government is considering withdrawal from a series of international bodies, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as these international organizations have neglected obligations towards Russia, the Russian Duma's Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy said on Monday.
"Our previous western partners, in fact, have not fulfilled a series of international obligations, including illegal sanctions against Russia's foreign reserves, assets of Russian people, and trade. From our own perspective, we do not want to honor the obligations as well. These obligations have been existing in our law for 30 years, so we are planning to have relevant committees in our parliament to analyze legal documents of those international organizations, to see whether they meet the current interest of Russia. The result of this work may be that Russia will no longer fulfill some international obligations," said Pyotr.
Some WTO members, including the United States, the European Union and Japan, revoked Russia's "most favored nation" trade status, following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Some countries imposed sanctions against Russia due to the conflict.
In response to these, Russia is discussing to withdraw from the trade organization.
"These trade embargo and unlawful sanctions against Russia run counter to WTO rules, so does the move to close markets towards Russian products. These contradict WTO rules," said Pyotr.
After withdrawing from WTO, Russia could stabilize the domestic economy and currency, and will open its door wider to Asian and African partners, Pyotr added.
"Speaking of the withdrawal from the WTO, the bad thing for Russia is that prices of certain categories of goods will go up, but the good thing is that we will not be affected by the international market. To some extent, we can stabilize the domestic economy and currency, which will be a huge advantage for Russia's economic development," said Pyotr.
"We have to reshape our economy due to sanctions imposed by the western Europe and the United States, and we are accelerating the process. We will rapidly proceed to open our market towards partners in Asia, the Pacific region, and in Africa, to fill the market gap caused by the sanctions," Pyotr continued.
As for the withdrawal from WHO, Pyotr said it depends on whether the supernational power of the international agencies is used against a particular country, such as Russia, adding that Russia's lower house is discussing it.
"We are very serious about our international obligation. Russia is a responsible country, and has honored our obligations. When we are told those obligations no longer exist, and when a party violates those obligations, we will not understand on what ground we should follow them," said Pyotr.
Pyotr said that Russia will analyze the decisions made by those international organizations, and will reject them if it is a politicized decision.
Russia will proceed with their discussions in a way that does not harm the interests of others, or create damage, but at the same time allows Russia to develop without any kind of restrictions, especially political restrictions.
