GENEVA -- Russia applied Friday to join the new World Trade Organization, saying it wanted to be admitted without concessions, as a normal country dedicated to market reform.


The request was welcomed by Peter Sutherland, chief of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which will be absorbed by the WTO, as a sign the new organization to be launched Jan. 1 would be "truly global."


The Russian submission was presented by Oleg Davydov, deputy prime minister and foreign trade minister, who told a news conference later that his country had abandoned old-style command economics and was pursuing free trade policies.


"We will not be seeking any privileges or concessions in the entry negotiations," Davydov said. "We want to come in as any normal country."


His words were a sign that Moscow would not be seeking special terms granted to developing countries, such as those being sought by China in discussions on GATT-WTO membership.


The old Soviet Union and China for four decades condemned GATT as a "capitalist club" and maintained strict state control of all foreign trade with large tariffs and hidden barriers as well as outright import bans.


Sutherland, echoed by many trade analysts, says it is vital for the two giant powers to be brought into the freer international trading system to be administered by the WTO if the new body is to have real meaning.


Davydov said Moscow's main concern was to win the "equitable treatment" for its goods that WTO membership would bring and thus end "discriminatory measures left over from the Cold War times."