Interviewed yesterday by Interfax on the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai which starts today, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov charged Western governments with pursuing the climate agenda for the sole purpose of cementing control of the global economic system. In particular, the European Union is practicing unscrupulous use of the climate agenda against Russia, he said.
“If this was genuinely for the climate, then they’d say ‘OK guys, verify your carbon units according to international standards and we’ll count them toward offsetting the carbon footprint of your products.’ But they say ‘no no, we’re not interested in what you have there, we’ll count your carbon footprint ourselves and you, please, compensate for it in our European system.’ In other words, ‘don’t spend $10 on CO2 capture [in Russia], just bring us $100 so that our products remain competitive,’” Reshetnikov said. Which means that Europe is telling the Russians: “We’ll take care of it, it is the best way to get the certificates ... but it is more expensive, naturally.”
Reshetnikov attacked the same discriminatory attitude, which was demonstrated yesterday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s demand, before his departure for Dubai, that China—another leading target of Europe’s agenda—pay a substantial sum into the planned global climate fund to compensate for its own allegedly heavy emissions record.
