"In its current form, the Kyoto protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," Andrei Illarionov, Vladimir Putin's chief advisor on economic issues, told reporters.

"Of course, in its present form, this protocol cannot be ratified," he said after the Russian president spoke to a gathering of Russian and European businessmen.

"It is impossible to undertake responsibilities that place serious limits on the country's growth," the advisor said, insisting that it would be unfair to Russia to curb emissions and stymie its own growth while other nations which account for the bulk of global emissions refuse to join the pact.

Russian ratification of the 1997 Kyoto accord is needed to bring it into force worldwide, but since indicating at a world summit last year that it would probably ratify the deal, it has issued mixed signals on the issue.

At a conference on climate change in September, Putin said Russia was undecided on signing the protocol and would make its decision in line with its national interests.

Illarionov has been one of Russia's most noted opponents of the Kyoto accord which, signed as a "framework" agreement in 1997 and completed in 2001, requires industrialised signatories to trim output of carbon dioxide and five other types of carbon gases, most of which are a byproduct of fossil fuels.

With the world's biggest single polluter, the United States, rejecting the accord, the agreement can only take effect under its complex ratification rules after it has been approved by Russia's parliament.

Illarionov's comments came as delegates from 180 countries met in Milan, Italy, to explore the future of the accord. The European Commission warned meanwhile Tuesday that the European Union was falling short of its own targets in the accord, and needed to urgently introduce new measures to correct the situation.

Some Russian officials have hinted at making ratification conditional on acceptance of its application to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

EU officials have refused linkage between the issues, though some have suggested that the Russian ratification of the accord would open up significant investment opportunities for European companies in Russia.

In principle, Russia is one of the major beneficiaries of the Kyoto accord, since the low level of pollution of which its depressed post-Soviet industry is now capable gives it massive scope for trading in emission quotas authorised by the treaty.

Greenhouse gases are blamed for global warming by trapping the sun's heat rather than let it radiate safely out into space.

Most scientists fear that this could lasting harmful effects on the planet's delicate climate mechanism, though opinions differ on the seriousness of the situation.

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