By Anna Smolchenko

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 9, 2009 (AFP) - Russia may yet seek to join the World Trade Organisation on its own, President Dmitry Medvedev's top economic advisor said Thursday, after Moscow had touted a joint bid with Kazakhstan and Belarus.

'Russia will be conducting talks regarding WTO membership on its own,' Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters.

'As consultations have shown, the entry of the Customs Union (Russia, Kazakhastan and Belarus) to the WTO will be a hard, years-long process. 'Therefore another scenario is parallel accession of the three Customs Union member countries, which coordinate their positions and enter the WTO at the same time but as three sovereign states.'

That, stressed Dvorkovich, was the most likely scenario but officials had yet to make a final decision.

Russia appears to have driven itself into a corner after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last month Russia would only join the global trade body with its post-Soviet allies Kazakhstan and Belarus.

'What is important is that Russia is interested in joining the WTO and hopes that that happens quickly,' said Dvorkovich.

However the advisor said Moscow would insist that the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Belarus join the WTO at the same time and on the same terms as Russia.

Putin baffled the WTO last month by announcing that Russia would alter its accession bid and seek membership as a single customs bloc with Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Just before Putin's announcement, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk travelled to Russia for WTO talks with the Russian officials who told him that their country was keen to enter the global trade body by year's end.

By changing tack, Russia appeared to have shot itself in the foot as many observers say Moscow would have to start its negotiating process from scratch despite its 16-year long entry bid.

Russia, the only major economy outside the global trade body, began negotiations to join the WTO in 1993 but talks were delayed by disputes over a variety of issues and were set back by Russia's war with Georgia last year. Its customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan still largely exists only on paper.

US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, visiting Moscow earlier this week, said the joint bid by Customs Union was 'unworkable, unprecedented and would only delay matters.'

Locke expressed surprise over Moscow's move, saying that prior to Putin's announcement Washington had been 'on the cusp' of an agreement with Russia on its accession by the end of the year.

Dvorkovich denied that the possible rethink on the membership bid was as a result of US pressure.

'We will only enter on conditions that suit us,' he said.