Russia is the largest economic power that is not a member of the World Trade Organization. But that may change. Last Friday, the European Union said it would support Russia’s effort to become a W.T.O. member.

Representatives of the European Union met with Russian officials in Moscow. They signed a trade agreement that took six years to negotiate.

Russia called the trade agreement balanced. It agreed to slowly increase fuel prices within the country. It also agreed to permit competition.in its communications industry and to remove some barriers to trade.

In exchange for European support to join the W.T.O>, Russian President Putin said that Russia would speed up the process to approve the Kyoto Protocol, an international environmental agreement to reduce the production of harmful industrial gases. These “greenhouse gases” trap heat in the atmosphere and are blamed for changing the world’s climate.

Russia had signed the Kyoto Protocol, but has not yet approved it. The agreement takes effect when it has been approved by nations that produce at least 55 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. But currently, nations producing only 44 percent have approved the Protocol. Russia produces about 17 percent of the world’s green-house gases.. The United States, the world’s biggest producer, withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol after President Bush took office in 2001. So, Russia’s approval is required to put the Kyoto Protocol into effect.

To join the W.T.O., a country must reach trade agreements with major trading countries that are also W.T.O. members. Russia must still reach agreements with China, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

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