Is the Kyoto agreement dead?
Have the Russians really pulled out of it?
Or is it simply a blackmailing tactic for European money?
Simply a sad state of affairs, really - but not as sad as the richest country in the world (the world's biggest CO2 polluter) claimnig that it could not afford to ratify the treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3288683.stm
excerpt:
Have the Russians really pulled out of it?
Or is it simply a blackmailing tactic for European money?
Simply a sad state of affairs, really - but not as sad as the richest country in the world (the world's biggest CO2 polluter) claimnig that it could not afford to ratify the treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3288683.stm
excerpt:
Russia says it has not yet reached a decision on whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the global climate treaty.
It has effectively disowned an official who said on Tuesday that Russia would not ratify, and it is still in the process of coming to a decision.
The official, Andrei Illarionov, said Russia would not back Kyoto in its present form, citing economic reasons.
The treaty cannot acquire the force of international law unless Russia, one of the world's big polluters, ratifies it.
Mr Illarionov, President Putin's chief adviser on economic issues, said in Moscow: "Of course, in its present form, this protocol cannot be ratified. It is impossible to undertake responsibilities that place serious limits on the country's growth."
But Russia's deputy economy minister, Mukhamed Tsikhanov, said the country was moving towards the treaty.
He said: "There are no decisions about ratification apart from the fact that we are moving towards ratification. "I cannot comment on Illarionov, but we do not have any information in the government about the fact that a decision has been made."
Asked what Russia's final decision depended on, Mr Tsikhanov replied: "You should put this question to Japan and the European Union, about when they will start to speak to us in economic language."
He said the decision on ratification could be put to the Duma (lower house of parliament) next year.