Russia trade vote in Congress won't be easy: Paulson

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A move for the United States to lift a Cold War-era restriction on trade with Russia when it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) will face opposition in Congress, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Monday.

Russia, which started its bid to join the global trade watchdog in 1995, aims to finish work on a multilateral agreement opening the way for membership later this year. It has already struck a bilateral membership deal with Washington.

Russia's WTO membership would require Congress to establish permanent normal trade relations with Russia by removing it from the dwindling list of countries subject to trade restrictions under the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment.

"It will not be easy. There will be opposition in the Congress (to removing the amendment) but I think it will be important to try," Paulson told the Ekho Moskvy radio station during a visit to Russia.

The Jackson-Vanik amendment, approved in 1974, tied normal trade relations with the Soviet Union and other centrally planned economies to the rights of Jews and other religious minorities to emigrate freely.

Russia has been in compliance with the conditions set out in the Jackson-Vanik amendment since 1994.

But some lawmakers in the United States have tied lifting the Jackson-Vanik amendment to Russia improving its record on human rights.

U.S. lawmakers have insisted that Moscow finish negotiations on joining the WTO before they vote to lift the measure. Paulson said he did not know when the amendment would be lifted.

The United States is currently as large a trading partner for Russia as Finland, accounting for about six percent of Russian foreign trade in 2007. Both Moscow and Washington want to boost trade.

Paulson is in Moscow for talks with Russia's top leaders that some observers say could help shift the focus of a sometimes frosty U.S.-Russia relationship towards the more productive areas of trade and investment.

Congressional refusal to lift the amendment would not block Russia from joining the WTO. But it would allow Moscow to legally deny U.S. companies from sharing in the market-opening concessions it has made to join the world trade body.

Paulson, who discussed the WTO entry negotiations with his Russian counterpart Alexei Kudrin on Sunday, said the talks were nearing their end.

"We are making progress on the last details of negotiations. I thing it is important to finish this up," Paulson said.

(Reporting by David Lawder, Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Richard Balmforth)