MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Provisions of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) contradict principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by now and Russia hopes the dispute can be avoided, although the country has solid grounds for grievances, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov told TASS in the interview. 

"In principle, if we take a close look at the WTO agreements, we will see that, according to our estimates, the EU's CBAM contradicts them, in particular, such basic principles as "national treatment" and "most-favored nation status," the introduction of import restrictions and many other things. In other words, we have solid grounds to put forward grievances. It is to be hoped that these disagreements will be settled and major disputes will be avoided," Reshetnikov said.

Russia’s concerns within the WTO framework are shared by all BRICS partners (Brazil, China, India and South Africa), in the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Argentina, Paraguay, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Turkey and Taiwan, the Minister added.

The full text of the interview is available at the TASS website.