[4] Since 2001, the Russian president Vladimir Putin had received a large number of appeals from the heads of foreign states about the need for Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

At a meeting of the Security Council, Vladimir Putin instructed his advisor Andrey Illarionov to find out whether the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol was in Russia's national interest.

Yuri Izrael proposed to influence the climate by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and introducing an additional amount of aerosols into the stratosphere.

He also pointed to the dual role of carbon dioxide: doubling its quantity in the atmosphere made it possible to increase the yields of major crops, but this fact was outweighed by the negative aspects of anthropogenic warming.

"[3][7] Izrael stated, "climate change is obvious, but science has not yet been able to identify the causes of it," and, "there is no proven link between human activity and global warming.

[citation needed] He appeared to favor adaption over mitigation, arguing, "The people of Bangladesh, who live at sea level, may face problems if the Indian Ocean rises.