Vladimir Voronin said on 22 December that he supported Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the hope this would help resolve the problem of how Moscow taxed the gas it sent to Moldova. "We hope that Russia's WTO membership will help solve the problem of levying value-added tax from the country recipient of the goods instead of levying it from the producer country," Voronin said. He added that Moldova lost approximately $100 million a year because Russia charged Chisinau VAT for the supplied gas rather than levying it in Russia.
