TY - JOUR TI - WTO in Contemporary EU – Russia Relations T2 - INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS RESEARCH JOURNAL IS - INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS RESEARCH JOURNAL KW - regime KW - multilateral international institutions KW - EU KW - WTO KW - Russia KW - free trade area KW - transgovernmental relations AB - Romanova Tatiana- PhD in Political Studies, Associate professor of the School of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, 7-9, Universitetskaya Embankment, St. Petersburg, Russia; E-mail: romanova@mail.sir.eduAbstractThe presented article provides an analysis of EU-Russian relations in the framework of Russia’s accession to the WTO. The author looks at current Russian and EC documents to conduct this analysis.The WTO has already become an integral part of EU-Russian relations. However, long-term, strategic consequences of Russia’s accession to the WTO for the dialogue between Moscow and Brussels have not been sufficiently assessed. Thematic and institutional aspects are to be considered. Thematically the WTO is an organization, which maintains a trade and economic regime, i.e. a specific set of rules. It thus clarifies possible goals of EU-Russian cooperation, leaving Brussels and Moscow with the choice of very clearly defined schemes like a free trade area or a custom union. Besides, Russian participation in the WTO allows solving the problem of inequality in the process of legal approximation between Moscow and Brussels. The first institutional aspect to be mentioned is the quasi-judicial body, which the EU and Russia acquired through the WTO. Moreover, the WTO also creates new possibilities for strengthening intergovernmental relations between Russia and the EU. Both aspects facilitate depoliticisation of EU-Russian economic relations.The author demonstrates that Russia’s accession to the WTO is beneficial both for Russia and EC. AU - Tatiana Romanova UR - https://iorj.hse.ru/en/2013-8-4/103579831.html PY - 2013 SP - 180-195 VL - 8