| The State Duma ratified the Kyoto Protocol On Friday, in just two hours, Russian deputies managed to make all European officials happy, along with the international environmental community. The State Duma has put an end to the discussion on the future fate of the Kyoto Protocol, which limits harmful emissions into the atmosphere. By ratifying the document, the deputies gave it life, since without a Russian signature it simply could not come into force and remained a set of good environmental wishes.
The deputies acted with the best intentions. According to Deputy Speaker of the Duma Vladimir Pekhtin, ratification of the protocol will increase Russia's international authority. The head of the Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Valery Draganov, believes that in this way Russia demonstrates its responsibility to humanity for the ecological state of the planet. And the head of the ecology committee, Vladimir Grachev, said that Russia has now become not only an environmental donor, but also an environmental leader.
Let us recall that the protocol obliges participating countries to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere to 1990 levels. A mechanism for selling unused quotas by the country is proposed as an economic incentive. Proponents of the protocol have always particularly emphasized this. The fact is that Russia, despite its reputation as a country with very dirty production, currently emits less than it should, and can make money on it. However, opponents of the Kyoto agreements spoke about the danger of restrictions for the country's further economic growth and the general lack of evidence of the benefits of such restrictions. The most famous opponent of the Kyoto Protocol, presidential adviser on economic issues Andrei Illarionov, called the protocol the State Planning Committee, the Gulag and Auschwitz. And when the government, not without prompting from the Kremlin, nevertheless agreed to approve the protocol and submit it to the Duma for ratification, Mr. Illarionov admitted that this decision was not made out of good fortune.
However, neither supporters nor opponents of Kyoto doubt that the reason for the positive decision lies solely on the political plane. The Kyoto Protocol has recently been the subject of constant bargaining in relations between Russia and the European Union. Brussels has tried to force Russia to sign at every opportunity, from negotiations to join the WTO to membership in the G8. However, Moscow managed to “withstand the blow” for quite a long time. But, apparently, the latest arguments have shown the Kremlin that Kyoto is a lesser evil compared to the possible cooling of relations with the European Union, Russia’s main economic partner.
In addition, Moscow's approval of the Kyoto Protocol gives the Kremlin administration more space for political maneuver, given the mixed reaction of the world community to the president's latest initiatives to reform the system of gubernatorial elections Vera SITNINA |
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