# Russia accedes to the World Trade Organization

Date: 2012

## The fact

On 22 August 2012 Russia became a WTO member after a protocol signed during [Putin](/people/vladimir-putin)’s presidency, following negotiations that had run through the [Medvedev](/people/dmitry-medvedev) years.

## Context

Eighteen years of talks ended with tariff bindings and service schedules. Putin had returned to the presidency in May 2012; the Duma ratified. He did not write every working-party report.

The 2001 tax reform is a different domestic statute. Later wartime export controls are neighbouring later instruments.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

World Trade Organization carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [household purchasing power](/drivers/household-purchasing-power) and industrial-policy discipline: accession binds tariffs and opens a dispute forum. It is not a finding that later sanctions were this protocol.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 22 August 2012 WTO accession that the Organization recorded as completed.

Not established: a unique later real-income coefficient from that day, or that every later tariff deviation was this protocol.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Negotiators and the WTO working party wrote the protocol. The Duma ratified.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Russia accedes to the World Trade Organization, not a later speech about Russia accedes to the World Trade Organization.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Russia accedes to the World Trade Organization on 2012-08-22 is not a licence to treat every later World Trade Organization communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Russia accedes to the World Trade Organization into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He was president at accession and the political owner of the file. Negotiators and the WTO working party wrote the protocol. The Duma ratified. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Household Purchasing Power: https://factrail.ai/drivers/household-purchasing-power

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wto-russia-idUSBRE87L0W320120822
- https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news12_e/acc_rus_22aug12_e.htm

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-wto-accession-2012