Russian senator says Russia preparing to ratify Paris climate deal

MOSCOW, Aug 7 (PRIME) -- The Paris climate agreement will work even without participation of the U.S. and Russia is preparing to ratify it, Mikhail Shchetinin, chairman of the committee for agriculture and environment at the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, told PRIME on August 5.

“The Paris agreement is not being destroyed, it has been ratified by the E.U. states. Russia is also preparing to ratify the document,” Shchetinin said. The U.S. will likely return to the agreement on better conditions, he added.

Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi called a beginning of the U.S. secession from the deal a terrible mistake.

“News for ones who have been in doubt yet. A terrible mistake! Trump (U.S. President Donald Trump) has in fact aborted the Paris agreement by eliminating the U.S., a crucial player. But from a historical viewpoint – nothing new – he repeated the U.S. activities on the first international act of struggle against climate changes on the planet – the Kyoto protocol,” Donskoi said in a Facebook post.

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