MOSCOW The pledge by world leaders meeting this week in Canada to grant Russia full Group of Eight membership by 2006, is the latest in a series of steps marking Russia's integration into the world economic system, President Vladimir Putin's top economic advisor said Friday.

Commenting on the two-day G8 summit that ended Thursday, Andrei Illarionov said the latest development, "comes as another in a series of steps towards Russia's integration into the global economic, political and social systems, together with its accession to the World Trade Organization and participation in other organizations," AFP reported.

The summit had been a success for Russia, with "all planned programs fulfilled, and all Russian-proposed documents and initiatives backed," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

The summit in Kananaskis, Canada was, "the final step in the process begun 11 years ago when representatives of the former Soviet Union attended the group's session for the first time," he noted. Following the latest decision, in 2006, Russian representatives would chair "each G8 working group and each working body." "In other words," the Kremlin advisor said, "The Russian president will become G8 chairman for the whole year, the Russian foreign minister chairman of the group's foreign ministers, and the Russian finance minister chairman of the G8 finance ministers." He stressed that "this marks a significant shift in our relations with this organization and signals a change in Russia's position in the world."

Illarionov also assured that the G7 leaders did not require Russia to break off its nuclear cooperation with Iran in order to gain a hefty Western aid package to safeguard its plutonium stocks.

"Iran's name was not at all mentioned," Illarionov said, Explaining that the sole requirements were that the money would be used strictly for the projects assigned, and that the projects could be monitored.

Western powers vowed to raise $20 billion over a 10-year span to ensure Russia's plutonium stocks are kept out of the hands of terrorists who seek to build a "dirty bomb" and to help both Moscow and former Soviet republics eliminate massive stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

Illarionov also downplayed Russia's disappointment at still being blacklisted by the multinational Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as one of the countries which are deemed to be inadequately fighting money-laundering.

The decision to strike Russia off the shaming list could come as early as this fall, Illarionov assured, adding however that a group of FATF experts needed to examine the steps taken by Moscow to combat money laundering.

Russia's parliament on Thursday toughened legislation aimed at combating money-laundering in a move the Kremlin hopes will take it off the FATF blacklist.

In recent months, in particular following the geostrategic upheavals caused by the September 11 attacks on the United States, Russia has won significant concessions in its relations with Washington and key Western bodies such as NATO.

It is pressing strongly for membership of the WTO, which it hopes to join by the end of next year, although WTO officials in Geneva have warned that several key issues remain to be resolved.