The Russians on the Kyoto Treaty:

Kyoto is a "death treaty" that will "stifle economic growth" and bring "many negative implications" because it will limit Russian carbon emission growth, Mr Illarionov said in comments reported by news agency Interfax on Wednesday.

The global agreement was worse than the Gosplan committee responsible for the famous communist five-year plans, he said. Even Stalinist era prison camps had better conditions, he added: "In a gulag, people were at least given the same rations ... from one day to the next, but the Kyoto protocol proposes decreasing rations day by day."