Russian President Vladimir Putin said that global warming is real but has been going on long before the “man-made effects” that climate science points to as its primary cause.
Speaking at the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk on Thursday, Putin said (rushed transcript):
“What I’m about to say may be unpopular. But we will respect the various agreements and Russia will do just that, just like we abided by the Kyoto protocols. Yesterday I visited the French archipelago and back in 1930s I think, an Austrian pioneer and researcher visited that place and issued a description of the glacier and twenty years later an Italian king visited and found that ice cover had melted. This warming started back in the 1930s. And back then, we did not have not have these man-made effects, but the warming was already there. It’s not a question of prevention, I agree with those who say it’s not a matter of prevention because you can’t prevent it. [Global warming] may be a global trend, a global cycle. A planetary cycle. You just need to adjust to that. ”
AFP’s Moscow correspondent reports:
