MOSCOW — Russia's lower house of parliament approved the Kyoto Protocol on Friday, virtually guaranteeing that the treaty to fight global warming will come into effect early next year.
Ratification still requires approval by the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, and the signature of President Vladimir V. Putin, but those steps are widely expected. Russian approval would give the treaty enough worldwide support to take effect 90 days after Russia's ratification documents are delivered to the United Nations in New York.
Because the Bush administration pulled out of the agreement in 2001, the pact's requirements to reduce "greenhouse gas" emissions would not apply to the United States. But the business units of U.S. corporations operating in countries that have approved the treaty would be affected by its requirements.
The vote Friday was 334-73 with two abstentions.
"Now the issue is resolved," said Grigory Pasko, editor-in-chief of Ecology and Law, a Russian-language magazine. "The approval of the Federation Council is just a technicality.... In the end, despite the views of his own advisors, Putin chose in favor of ratifying, and in our country, whatever Putin decides immediately becomes a legal reality."
Some of Putin's top economic advisors opposed the treaty out of fear that it would hamper the growth of Russian industry, but the Russian Foreign Ministry strongly favored ratification.
Putin's decision to endorse the pact has been widely seen as being tied to agreements reached with the European Union on thorny trade issues. But Mikhail G. Delyagin, chairman of the Institute for Globalization Problems, a Moscow think tank, said he believed the decision to back the treaty also reflected a desire to defuse Western criticism on human rights issues.
"We surrendered all positions because we decided to use Kyoto Protocol ratification as the bone we threw to the European dog to stop its barking about the violations of human rights in Russia," Delyagin said. "Europeans will devour this bone of concession with pleasure, but will not feel obligated to forget their values and principles."
The upper house is scheduled to consider the treaty Wednesday.
"Though there will be discussions, of course, I'm sure that common sense will take the upper hand and my colleagues ... will support ratification," Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov told the Russian news agency Interfax.
