Medvedev threatens to leave Kyoto pact

BRASILIA, Brazil, April 16 (UPI) -- Russia will leave the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions if a deal can't be reached on carbon emission reduction, President Dmitry Medvedev said.

Medvedev said developing and developed countries should reach accord on terms of carbon emissions or Russia no longer will participate in the Kyoto agreement, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

"(You) can't have it both ways," Medvedev said after a summit in Brasilia, Brazil, of Brazil, Russia, India, and China aimed at strengthening cooperation between the four countries and improving the current global economic situation.

The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and a new global climate deal is needed to continue efforts beyond then.

A U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December originally was expected to see the signing of a successor agreement to Kyoto Protocol, but after much debate and disagreement, countries agreed only to try to keep average increases in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius.

India, China and other emerging economies have not shouldered obligations concerning the carbon emission reductions, several international environmental agencies said.

Medvedev said Russia would push forward its strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so the country could meet its target of a 25 percent reduction cut by 2020, RIA Novosti said. During the Copenhagen climate summit, Medvedev signed Russia's climate doctrine that requires the government to undertake programs that tackle man-made climate changes.