Russia refutes trade bloc exit over EU pork row

Russia is unlikely to surrender its World Trade Organization membership despite a senior official threatening to do so amid a Russia-European Union pork ban dispute, experts said.

Sergey Kalashnikov, first deputy head of the economic committee of the Federation Council of the Russia, said Moscow may leave the WTO if the EU levies $1.66 billion a year on Russia due to its restriction of pork imports, the official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

"The very fact imposing sanctions by the EU leadership against Russia is contrary to the principles of the international organization," Kalashnikov said.