MOSCOW, ST.-PETERSBURG, June 21 – RAPSI. Communist Party and Just Russia MPs have appealed against the acceptance of the treaty on Russia’s accession to the WTO, RIA Novosti reported.

The collective request, signed by 131 deputies, has been submitted to the Constitutional Court, Nikolai Kolomeytsev, representative of the Communist Party, told the agency.

The Lower House MPs believe the treaty ratification procedure was violated, and also that WTO membership will undermine Russia’s economic security.

“We consider that it is impermissible to enter the WTO on the agreed terms. Russia’s national interests were basically not taken into account at all. Possibly only Ukraine joined the organization on worse terms,” State Duma deputy Mikhail Emelyanov told RIA Novosti.

He believes that after joining the WTO Russia’s economy will become “colonial.”

The draft treaty was not agreed with constituent entities of the country and has been criticized for running counter to the Constitution. The government only worked to promote the idea of WTO membership, some believe.

In addition, the regions are unable to meet the 30-day deadline for filing their responses to the upcoming membership – the draft treaty was submitted to parliament on June 7 and is expected to be approved on July 4.

Furthermore, the protocol was not signed in Russian, despite the fact that Russian is the official working language of the country and, only an informal translation of the protocol is available to members of parliament.

Finally, only the protocol for Russia’s entry into the WTO foundation agreements as of 1994 is subject to ratification, while the treaty itself with all the relevant appendices was not submitted to the State Duma, MPs complain.

On June 7, Russia’s government approved the draft protocol of Russia’s accession into the World Trade Organization and submitted it to parliament for ratification. Russia must ratify the documents for its accession into the WTO by July 23. Otherwise, it will have to resume talks on the terms of accession. The draft law on the ratification of the protocol must by approved by the government and parliament and be signed by the president before the aforementioned term.