MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Russia has to join the World Trade Organization, but should only do so on acceptable terms, Finance Minster Alexei Kudrin said in an interview with Interfax.

"We can't refuse to join the WTO in principle, but we will hold as many =talks as necessary. We're talking about acceptable terms," he said. "If we don't agree on them now, we will do so in a year, or two or three," Kudrin said.

In touching on Russia's position concerning banks and insurance companies, Kudrin said that Russia is not ready to allow foreign banks to open direct branches. "We are also in difficult talks on other issues and have not made any decisions yet," he said.

Russia needs to join the WTO and it won't be possible to double GDP without doing so, Kudrin said. "If we don't join the WTO, we will lower the rate of economic growth over the next few years," he said.

"It's in our interests to join the WTO and I'm confident that this is in the interests of the entire world, therefore I'm optimistic about the prospects for resolving this issue," he said.