Russia may be ready to ratify Kyoto treaty on climate change

[muriel_volestrangler]

with the emphasis on 'may' - it sounds like the behind the scenes dealing isn't finished yet.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=513638

An anonymous Kremlin source told the daily Kommersant that the announcement may be made during a two-day visit to Russia by Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, which started yesterday. If Russia's policy shift on Kyoto is not made public during the visit it is likely to emerge at an EU-Russia summit in May.
...
An expert from the Russian branch of Greenpeace told The Independent that the only reason Russia had not yet signed was because it was hoping to extract further concessions from the EU. Russia's ratification of the landmark global warming pact had become "a political game", said Natalia Olsirenko, of Greenpeace. "It is highly probable that the Kremlin will ratify the pact."

A Russian rapprochement with Brussels has been fuelled by recent progress in its negotiations with the EU over Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

[NNadir]

1. Russia may well be situated to win on global warming.

They have superb nuclear resources, a large supply of surplus plutonium and highly enriched Uranium, and are at the forefront of the development and scale up of the Radowsky Thorium fueled PWR reactor concept, the molten salt reactor and other highly advanced nuclear technologies. They are very active participants in the development of Gen IV program and will have far more direct experience with these systmes than many other nations on the planet, including the United States. People tend to write them off because of Chernobyl, but Chernobyl was chiefly the result of political and not technical decisions. Unencumbered now by the morally disgusting policies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Russian nuclear engineers are certainly a force to be reckoned with in the age of global warming. Maybe the future does indeed belong to them. They could easily become a nuclear power of the second kind, exporters of commercially superior nuclear technology.