The Kyoto protocol on fighting climate change is to become a legally-binding treaty on 16 February, the UN has said. Russia handed official ratification papers to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Nairobi on Thursday.
Russia's accession gives Kyoto support from countries that emit at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gases.
The protocol commits 55 industrialised nations to making significant cuts in the emission of gases such as carbon dioxide by the year 2012.
Moscow's ambassador to the UN, Andrei Denisov, handed Russia's accession papers to Mr Annan in Nairobi, where the Security Council is holding a special session."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4022283.stm