Russia intends to keep trade tariffs high until its accession to the World Trade Organization is complete, possibly by the end of 2010, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.

"Legally we will be obliged to decrease the tariffs when we finalize our WTO accession," Shuvalov told reporters in Brussels. "Before then it would be difficult to decrease the tariffs because it would not be easy to explain to the Russian people," he said.

The deputy prime minister said he "dreams" of Russia completing its WTO accession process by the end of 2010. But its efforts to join have been complicated by its desire to join together with Kazakhstan and Belarus as a free trade zone.

Shuvalov said the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus would meet in the Kazakh capital Astana on July 5th to "decide the most appropriate scenario for accession to WTO." (Reuters)