“We are considering all the options for our participation in multilateral trade, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of continuing as a full member of the WTO,” Birichevski said to Sputnik news agency.

He added that “there are reasons to continue being a member in order to preserve a stable relationship with developing countries, we are willing to continue cooperation on a basis of equality and consideration of reciprocal interests.”

The diplomat confirmed at the same time that “hostile countries and alliances are trying to expel Russia from the WTO.”

“If we were to renounce membership, the West would see it as proof that its anti-Russian policy has an effect, which would help to consolidate that line, particularly on other international platforms,” he argued.

Within the WTO, Russia places its efforts on an increasingly intense and multifaceted cooperation with the majority of the world: the countries of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Birichevski said.

Russia joined the WTO in August 2012, after a negotiation that lasted for almost two decades.

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