Moscow's second thoughts give hope for Kyoto

MOSCOW - In an apparent about-face, Russia has indicated it might salvage the UN's Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming - a pact that will collapse without Moscow's backing.

"There are no decisions about ratification apart from the fact that we are moving towards ratification," said Mukhamed Tsikhanov, the deputy economy minister responsible for Kyoto.

Michael Williams, a United Nations spokesman for climate change, welcomed the remark.

"We are confident that they will ratify the protocol at some point."

On Tuesday, Kremlin adviser Andrei Illarionov said Russia would not approve the pact in its current form. Kyoto has been ratified by 120 nations but has been weakened by a US pullout.

"I cannot comment on Illarionov, but we do not have any information in the Government about the fact that a decision has been made," Tsikhanov said. "It is the Government that takes the decision and then sends it to the Duma (parliament)."

He said the Government had yet to discuss the pact formally but could pass it to the Duma next year.

The fate of the protocol, which aims to cut emissions of the gases that cause global warming, has been in Russia's hands since Washington pulled out of the pact in 2001.

It can come into force only if countries responsible for 55 per cent of developed nations' emissions approve it. This means Russia, which emits 17 per cent of greenhouse gases, has the casting vote.

Countries accounting for 44 per cent of emissions have so far signed up.

The protocol's future hinges on Russia because the United States, the world's top polluter with 36 per cent of emissions, has refused to be part of the agreement.

Environmentalists, who dismissed Illarionov's comments as bluster before parliamentary elections on Sunday and a presidential poll in March, welcomed Tsikhanov's statement.

"It certainly confirms the other reports that have been coming on Russia, that they're in the process of decision making," said Jennifer Morgan, the director of the World Wildlife Fund's climate change programme.

President Vladimir Putin, who is likely to have the final decision, shocked an environmental conference two months ago by retreating from Government promises to ratify, saying Russia needed to check if the pact would harm Russia's economy.

Since then, Kremlin officials, including Illarionov, have said Moscow wanted guarantees from Western nations that they would buy Russia's substantial excess emission quotas - something permitted in the pact - if it does ratify the treaty.

- REUTERS