MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Lawmakers from the Communist Party faction in the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, have prepared another bill detailing Russia's exit from the World Trade Organization (WTO) after their previous similar initiative failed late last year.
On Friday, the bill was uploaded into the public electronic database of the State Duma’s legislative initiatives.
According to the bill, the July 21, 2012 federal law on Russia joining the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement to establish the WTO, "is to be declared invalid."
The Communist party believes that, "Russia has obtained no preferences, benefits or even stimuli for economic development" as a result of its WTO membership.
The authors of the bill state that "Russia’s exit from the WTO will have no negative impact on Russia’s economic development."
"First of all, the country will stop paying membership fees and keep them in its budget. Secondly, WTO rules will still be applied to Russia’s trade on the global market, but, at the same time, it will not fall under this organization’s sanctions," reads an explanatory note to the bill.
In addition, the bill’s authors believe that if Russia quits the WTO, the global organization's rules will no longer "slow down the development of ties within the Customs Union and the Eurasian [Economic] Union."
"As a result, Russia will lose nothing, but will get freedom in its economic activities, which may enhance the development of the country and its economy," the bill’s authors said.
The previous bill on the issue, submitted by the Communist Party in November, has been rejected by lawmakers.