Putin Comments on Trump's Move on US Exit From Paris Climate Accord

The obligations of the United States within the framework of the Paris climate agreement could be changed instead of Washington withdrawing from the accord, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced a decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal. At the same time, the US leader expressed readiness to renegotiate the deal under the terms that would be "fair to the United States."

"I think that it was not necessary to withdraw from the Paris deal, because of their framework nature. What steps could have been taken instead of the withdrawal? It was possible to change the obligations of the United States under these Paris agreements," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The Russian president added that he had not seen Trump's statement yet, but was aware of the US leader's intention to revise the agreement or reach a new one.

"[Trump] does not reject the need to work on the problem. I think that there is no need to make a fuss over the issue, but to establish conditions for joint work," Putin added.

Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he did not consider necessary to judge US President Donald Trump for withdrawing the country from the Paris climate change agreement.

‘I would not judge president trump because [former] president [Barack] Obama made the corresponding decision, maybe the current president thinks it was not fully thought out? Maybe he thinks there are no necessary resources? All of this should be considered carefully," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Meanwhile, Russia will ratify the Paris climate agreement when the rules for allocating resources will be formed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

"The United States has ratified this agreement [on climate change], as far as I remember, we have not yet. We have not done it because we want to wait for the rules of resource allocation and other purely technical but important things to be adopted," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

SPIEF, a major global platform for communication between business representatives and discussion of crucial economic issues, kicked off in Russia’s St. Petersburg on Thursday and will continue through Saturday. Sputnik News Agency is the official media partner of the forum.

Furthermore, the United States did not need to exit the Paris climate change agreement, its provisions are not binding, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

"In my opinion, it was not necessary to withdraw from the Paris agreements, as they are of framework nature," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

By the way, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that the Paris Agreement on climate change has not entered into force yet, so reaching consensus is still possible.

"The agreement… has not even entered into force yet, it will become effective starting from 2021. So we still have time, if we all work in a constructive manner, we still may be able to reach an agreement," Putin said at the SPIEF's plenary session.

Sputnik is an official media partner of SPIEF.