Moscow, July 17:

Russian newspapers expressed shock and incredulity today at Moscow’s failure over the weekend to win US support for Russian entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

“Mad Bull,” the daily Gazeta headlined an article highlighting the way a relatively minor trade issue — Russian veterinary regulations for US meat imports — derailed lengthy and apparently successful negotations at the last minute.

The US is the only major economy in the 149-nation WTO trade organisation yet to give approval for Russian entry. A deal had been widely expected at the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg over the weekend, but foundered when Russia refused to change health regulations for imported US meat.

According to Gazeta, the value of US meat imports to Russia is estimated at no more than $20 million — two per cent of Russia’s entire meat imports and about one tenth of a per cent of American meat exports.

“Because of this delivery, they are not accepting one of the most major economies into the WTO, when the timing was already practically agreed and supposedly everybody had an interest in this,” Gazeta reported. “This looks like nonsense.” “A Lost Chance,” lamented Vedomosti business daily. “The miracle did not happen,” Vremya Novostei reported. “The inability to reach agreement with the US was a surprise for the Russian side.”

Kommersant daily’s article stated that some Russian officials believed Washington had specially used the meat imports issue to ruin agreement on far wider issues. “This means that the Americans took revenge on the Russians for failing to bend on other questions,” Kommersant reported. Gazeta reported, “a blow had been dealt to the prestige of economy minister German Gref and Russia as a whole. It is hard to imagine that all this happened because of a veterinary dispute.”

Russia is the only major power operating outside WTO trade regulations, and US officials have previously said they would prefer to have Moscow formally bound by the organisation’s rules. US trade representative Susan Schwab said after the deal collapsed that agreement might be reached in “two to three months.”