Russia ratifies the Kyoto treaty.

Russian lower house of the Parliament, the State Duma, approved today the United Nations Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions. Even though some are saying that Russia was motivated by the short-term profit it can make by ratifying the protocol (since it can sell some of its quotas for gas emissions to others) the European Union and the global environmental movement applauded the Russian decision. Most of the scientific community warns that the green gas emissions will cause the global warming with similar effects as 55 million years ago.