BRUSSELS, June 11 (Reuters) - Russia has informed the European Union's trade chief of its plan to join the World Trade Organisation as part of a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, a European Commission spokesman said on Thursday.
"Commissioner Catherine Ashton spoke with Russia's Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina by phone ... Russia explained their plans, but not in detail," Ashton's spokesman Lutz Guellner told Reuters.
"What they have agreed is to have talks at technical level in Geneva next week and to meet each other at the OECD meeting in Paris later this month (June 24-25)."
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will stop separate negotiations to join the WTO, and begin joint accession talks, plunging Moscow's hopes of joining before the end of the year into doubt. (Reporting by Darren Ennis; Editing by Dale Hudson)