Putin-s party backs Kyoto Protocol

United Russia supports President Vladimir Putin and has a majority of seats in the State Duma, the main chamber of the Russian parliament.

The presidium of the United Russia faction approved a proposal from the Duma’s Ecology Committee to consider ratifying the Kyoto Protocol when the Duma meets in plenary session Friday, Interfax said.

The bill on ratification envisages the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of Dec. 11, 1997. The protocol defines obligations related to reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases for the first period of its effect, from 2008 to 2012, for every country that ratifies it.

The Duma’s Ecology Committee as well as the committees on international affairs and economic policy recommended that the Duma ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the news agency said