Russia deals Kyoto blow

Russia dealt a new blow to a UN plan to curb global warming yesterday as even European Union supporters of the landmark pact admitted backsliding.

A senior Russian official said that Moscow, left with an effective veto over the entire Kyoto Protocol after the United States pulled out in 2001, could not accept the 1997 plan in its current form.

"The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," Andrei Illarionov, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin on economic issues, told reporters in Moscow.

"Of course, in its current form, this protocol cannot be ratified," he said. He did not spell out what changes might bring a "Yes" from the Russian parliament.

The United Nations, hosting 180-nation climate talks in Milan since Monday till December 12 to work out details of Kyoto, said that one official's views did not amount to a formal rejection by Moscow. Mr Illarionov is a leading Kyoto sceptic in Russia.