Russia will deposit the ratification instruments to the secretary general of the UN” Kofi Annan at the United Nationsoffices in Nairobi, where the Security Council is Thursday and Friday holding an extraordinary session on Sudan, a senior UN source said, asking not to be named.
This was confirmed by other UN sources. The handover was scheduled to take place in the early afternoon.
The Kyoto protocol, which commits industrialised countries to cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, will become a full treaty 90 days after Russia deposits its ratification papers.
Russia’s participation has been Kyoto’s make-or-break state since 2001 when the US pulled out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the protocol on November 5, just over a week after his country’s parliament voted to ratify it.