RUSSIA: A senior economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the Russian leader had no intention of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, the pact on curbing global warming that could stand or fall with Moscow's decision.
Mr Andrei Illarionov reiterated a statement that dismayed environmentalists on Tuesday, and rejected contradictory comments from a deputy minister on Wednesday that Russia was "moving towards" backing the 1997 treaty on slashing the output of so-called greenhouse gases.
"Tuesday's statement was made physically by me, but the words I was using were those of the Russian president," said Mr Illarionov.
He insisted that there was no division on the issue between government and the Kremlin, but said Mr Mukhamed Tsikanov had erred in saying Russia was warming towards the pact.
"The deputy economy minister is mistaken. He is mistaken in his timing. What he said was the position of the Russian Federation in August. The way it is now, \ poses obstacles to economic growth," Mr Illarionov said, while underlining that Russia was open to discussion of any changes made to the treaty.
After expressing initial enthusiasm, Mr Putin has cooled markedly towards the pact since declaring his intention of doubling Russia's gross domestic product by 2010.
He shocked supporters of the treaty at a climate-change conference in Moscow in September, when he joked that global warming might not be bad for a cold country like Russia, perhaps boosting harvests and saving people money on fur coats.
He said Russia wanted more time to check the scientific foundation and economic implications of the treaty, and that a final decision would be made in line with Russia's national interests.
After Washington pulled out of the pact, Russia's ratification became crucial to take the cumulative emissions of signatory states to 55 per cent of the world output of such gases as carbon dioxide. Ecological group Greenpeace said US pressure could be coming to bear on Moscow, noting that Mr Putin's comments on Kyoto soured after his meeting with President Bush in September.
Many economists have advised Russia to ratify Kyoto, which calls for countries to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012. Greenpeace says Russia's emissions are already 39 per cent below 1990 levels, when Soviet industry was still belching smoke, a turnaround that even Mr Putin's desired economic acceleration could hardly reverse. Most analysts say even a Russia with rising industrial production would be able to make money selling its spare emissions "credits" to countries struggling to meet their own targets.
But Mr Illarionov complained that Moscow was unhappy with provisions for trading in these credits, saying Russia was bottom of a list of countries that could sell them and that, when its turn came, there would be no demand.
Government officials have suggested Russia wants guarantees on revenue from selling emissions rights, and on foreign investment in developing cleaner industry. Observers also say Mr Putin is using ratification of Kyoto as a bargaining chip in protracted and often heated negotiations over Russia's long-delayed entry into the World Trade Organisation.
Ms Natalya Olefirenko, coordinator for Greenpeace's Russian campaign on climate change, said she hoped Mr Illarionov's comments did not express Mr Putin's final decision on the treaty.
"If they really reflect Russia's current official position, then the president has been deeply misled over the economic and political consequences for Russia of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol," Ms Olefirenko said.