MOSCOW: Blocking Russia from joining the World Trade Organization because of the conflict in Georgia would defy common sense and break Western promises, a Russian official said yesterday in response to US warnings.

A senior US official said on Tuesday Russian integration into international institutions such as the WTO was in question because of Moscow’s military operations in Georgia. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday the fighting was hurting Russia’s efforts to join global economic and security bodies.

“There are no formal reasons to stop these (accession) talks,” the senior Russian official, who is close to the WTO membership negotiations, told Reuters.

“The statements that our accession should be delayed because of events in Georgia sound strange,” the source said. “It contradicts basic logic, common sense and promises that were given by the governments of Western countries to Russia.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is not directly involved in the WTO talks, told Echo Moskvy radio station Russia was already frustrated with delays in negotiations and was growing more convinced it will never be accepted anyway. “Sorry for a rude expression but every time they are just fooling us around,” Lavrov said.

The source said Russia’s accession could nevertheless provide a fresh impetus to the trade watchdog after the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks last month. Russia is the world’s 10th largest economy and by far the biggest country still outside the WTO. “After the July crisis, Russia’s accession could have provided support for the organization, which is experiencing serious systemic problems,” the source said.

The official also said Russia was unlikely to resume trade negotiations with Georgia, already a WTO member, which earlier blocked the accession talks because of Russian backing for its rebel regions.

“In this situation I do not think that this (resumption of talks with Georgia) is possible. Therefore we will look at other ways of solving the problem,” the source said, adding that WTO rules provided a mechanism for such cases.

Georgia and other ex-Soviet neighbor Ukraine are the only WTO members with whom Russia does not have a bilateral deal.