Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2003.  President Has Not Decided On Kyoto  By
Greg Walters  Special to The Moscow Times  President Vladimir
Putin said Monday that Russia has not made a decision on whether
to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and that the government will not do
so until it finishes studying the implications that ratification
would have for the country.  Putin, speaking at the opening
ceremony of the five-day UN World Climate Change Conference,
left the future of the Kyoto Protocol in limbo with his remarks
and disappointed some attendees, who had hoped he might use the
event to announce a ratification date.  "The government is
thoroughly considering and studying this issue, studying the
entire complex of difficult problems linked with it," Putin
said. "The decision will be made after this work has been
completed. And, of course, it will take into account the
national interests of the Russian Federation."  The Kyoto
Protocol calls for signatory countries to cut greenhouse gas
emissions to 1990 levels by 2012. Before