The arbiter panel to hear the dispute over the unlawful restrictive measures taken by Russia towards imports of wagons and railway equipment from Ukraine will be created early 2017, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Ukraine's Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska has said.

"As for railway equipment: we have sent a request to create a panel. It was approved at the last meeting of the WTO [World Trade Organization] Dispute Settlement Body. We have passed to the stage of forming the panel," she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Mykolska said that the next step is the selection of panelists by Ukraine and Russia and the beginning of the hearing the dispute.

"We expect that this will happen early next year. We will insist that we appoint panelists. Our task is to use the WTO rules to receive the panel, as we face large losses from the lost market," she said.

Asked about the restrictions to move from Ukraine to Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan across Russia, Mykolska said that the next step of Ukraine under the WTO will be the submission of a request to create the arbiter panel.

"Consultations with Russia gave nothing. Russia's position is that they formally respond to the questions, but they are not ready to discuss the liquidation of these restrictions," she said.

As reported, in November 2016 Ukraine held the WTO consultations with Russia on restrictions of transit movement from Ukraine to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan across Russia.

On September 14, 2016, Ukraine sent a request to hold consultations with Russia at WTO concerning restrictions of transit of Ukrainian goods across Russia.