OTTAWA — Environment Minister David Anderson and Alberta counterpart Lorne Taylor have carried their battle over the Kyoto protocol into a new arena: Russian politics.

Anderson and Taylor, both attending a climate conference in Moscow, are lobbying the Russians from opposite directions, even disagreeing on what President Vladimir Putin told the delegates in his opening remarks.

Taylor claims that Putin is on the same anti-Kyoto wavelength as Alberta, while Anderson says Putin reaffirmed his commitment to ratifying the climate treaty. "It's going to be done in a Russian way on a Russian timetable and they do not appreciate people trying to interfere with what's a Russian decision, one way or the other," Anderson said from Moscow on Tuesday.

"Mr. Taylor does not appear to be particularly popular for his remarks about the fact that they shouldn't ratify."
But Taylor had a different interpretation.

"(Putin) very clearly said exactly what Alberta's been saying: we'd better understand the mechanisms and the effects on the economy before we rush forward with ratification," Taylor told the Edmonton Journal.

Taylor said he will take the province's anti-Kyoto message to the governors of oil-rich Russian states.

"We just want to very clearly point out there is a difference between the Canadian position and the Alberta position."

Because of its substantial global share of greenhouse gas emissions, Russia's decision on Kyoto is crucial. If it ratifies, the treaty will take effect; if it doesn't, the treaty will remain without legal force.

The international media widely interpreted Putin's speech as a backing away from ratification, but Anderson said Russian officials are irritated with the coverage.

He quoted a Russian government news release Tuesday, which paraphrased Putin as saying that ratification of the protocol "is in Russia's national interest."

"That is their interpretation of his speech," he said. "There's clearly a somewhat irritated Russian reaction to what they regard as an incorrect interpretation of yesterday's speech by President Putin.

"You will notice that Canada has taken a much more balanced approach with the Russians and that is why we have accurate information from the Russians about their intentions."

One of Putin's economic advisers, Andrei Illarionov, criticized the treaty Tuesday, saying scientists had underestimated the positive effects of climate change.

"Public opinion was artificially focused on negative consequences of climate change, but there are also positive consequences for both our country and the planet as a whole," Illarionov said.

But Yuri Vorobyov, Russia's deputy minister for emergency situations, challenged Illarionov's optimism, telling the conference that warmer temperatures could increase the number of catastrophic floods and damage energy pipelines and other infrastructure in the north.

Anderson said he had been assured of Russia's commitment by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Gordeyev and Irina Osokina, the deputy natural resources minister.

The Kyoto Protocol calls for countries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012.

It is unusual to see federal and provincial ministers in open conflict at an international conference. Alberta seems able to push the envelop more than Quebec ever did.