MOSCOW, April 29 (Kyodo) - A senior Russian official on Tuesday said in an interview with Kyodo News that Russia will not ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming within this year for the pact to go into effect at an early date.
Mukhamed Tsikanov, vice minister of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the government agency in charge of evaluating the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, said, ''It is unlikely that Russia will ratify the protocol within this year.''
He said an inter-ministerial panel set up to discuss climate change issues consisting of vice ministers of related ministries has more or less concluded that ratification is unnecessary.
Tsikanov said, ''Ratification may take place in the first half of next year, at the earliest, but it may be delayed.''
The protocol, adopted in the former Japanese capital of Kyoto, will enter into force 90 days after Russia's ratification under the agreed implementation requirements for the number of countries ratifying it.
According to Tsikanov, the panel said in a report submitted to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov that the treaty would yield no economic benefits for Russia.
The prime minister is expected to examine the report and start discussion toward a government decision in the autumn, Tsikanov said.
The Russian assembly will start discussing the issue, possibly in December, after the government reaches a decision, Tsikanov said, adding that the assembly committee discussions usually take two or three months, thereby making it highly unlikely that Russia can ratify the treaty within this year.
The treaty requires industrialized countries to slash their greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels by an average of 5.2% between 2008 and 2012.
Russia has obtained massive emission rights of global warming gases under the treaty, as the economic turmoil that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union suppressed the country's emission levels.
Under the treaty's emission trading system, Russia can sell its surplus emission rights to developed countries that are unable to cut down their emissions through their own conservation efforts.
Tsikanov told Kyodo News that although Russia has asked developed countries including Japan to buy the emission rights, there were none that wanted to purchase them.
Diplomatic sources earlier said the high prices Russia has set for its emission rights have scared off potential buyers.
As the United States has opted out of the Kyoto Protocol, ratification by Russia, the world's third biggest producer of global warming gases, is key to bringing the treaty into force.
_________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail