¡¡¡¡MOSCOW, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin did not give an anticipated hint to ratify the Kyoto Protocol while opening a major climate conference here Monday, just stressing that the decision should be linked to his country's national interests.

¡¡¡¡Acknowledging the insistent call for Russia's soonest ratification of the Kyoto treaty on reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, the president told the International Conference on Climate Change that his government "is thoroughly looking into this issue and studying the whole range of problems connected to it."

¡¡¡¡"A decision will be made after this work is over. This decisionwill undoubtedly meet Russia's national interests," Putin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

¡¡¡¡The Kyoto Protocol, signed by 159 countries in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997, obliges industrialized countries to reduce the level of harmful effusions that result in the so-called greenhouse effect by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels in 2008-2012.

¡¡¡¡Under a complex weighing system, the treaty cannot come into force until Russia, responsible for 17 percent of the world's dioxide emissions, ratifies the deal.

¡¡¡¡The five-day conference is likely to focus on arguments as to whether Russia should ratify the protocol and how the world's major industrialized countries can reduce their emission of greenhouse gases at the percentage fixed in the treaty. Enditem