A ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization in mid-December unanimously approved Russia's request to join the world trade body. It also approved Samoa's and Montenegro's entry. It took 18 years for Russia to become a WTO member.

This is the first time since 2001 — when China joined the WTO — that a large trading country has joined. As of 2010, Russia was the world's No. 12 exporter and No. 18 importer.

With Russia added, the WTO's members will account for 95 percent of world trade. As Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said, Russia's joining the WTO "will usher in a qualitatively new stage" in its endeavor to integrate itself into the global economic system.