BELGOROD, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The World Trade Organization (WTO) remains the sole instrument to resolve the problems Russia has with VISA and MasterCard, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Georgy Petrov told an economic forum on Thursday.

The problems with the cards were financial, so they should be regulated by the WTO according to the Uruguay round, he said.

“Such measures, which the international financial companies had to take under the US pressure, are a grave violation of the agreement on financial services that can be challenged under the WTO procedure for settling disputes,” Petrov said.

Taking the issue to the international court of arbitration or other similar international organizations would be fruitless, he believes, as it is the WTO that was created to exclude any discrimination in services provided within the organization.