Russia Looks Ahead to Benefits from Global Warming. By Peter Savodnik, Abu Dhabi Media, June 19, 2009. "All across Russia, the prospect of global warming appears to present new opportunities: exploration of oil and gas fields in Siberia and construction of pipelines linking those fields with Europe and China would be cheaper; agriculture would pick up from Karelia, north of St Petersburg, to Chukotka, in the far east; more tourists would come; more timber would be harvested; deaths from exposure to cold would fall; and the quality of life of vast swathes of the country - 60 per cent of Russia is covered in permafrost - would (quite possibly) rise. It might seem impolitic to embrace what many regard as a looming global catastrophe. But this has not stopped the Russians. In September 2003, none other than Vladimir Putin signaled his approval, noting that global warming would help Russians 'save on fur coats and other warm things.' More recently, Rinat Gizatullin, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Ministry, told the BBC: 'We are not panicking. Global warming is not as catastrophic for us as it might be for some other countries. If anything, we'll be even better off. As the climate warms, more of Russia's territory will be freed up for agriculture and industry.'"
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