Russia faces historic heat wave,Putin changes tune on climate change

Amid record heatwave in Moscow, Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that climate change is a priority and vowed to work along with the United States to battle increasing global temperatures. The development comes amid a record-breaking heatwave in Russia during June which experts say could lead to the hottest summer that the country has experienced in more than a century. Moscow is baking in temperatures soaring towards record highs, news agencies reported a day ago, adding that people are heading to lakes to cool off as the heatwave sweeps western Russia. Daytime temperatures in Moscow are forecast at 30-35 degrees Celsius in the coming days and could break record highs on three days this week that have stood since 1936, 1951, and 2010, the RIA news agency reported. A record-breaking heatwave hitting Moscow and other parts of Russia shows no sign of letting in July also.

Moscow bakes in soaring temperatures.

The meteorological service says Russia could see its hottest summer in 120 years after a record-breaking heatwave in June.

Notorious for his scepticism about global warming, Putin now says climate change is a priority

???? Alexander Nemenov pic.twitter.com/iUeCpdV17Y

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 15, 2021

For years Putin was notorious for his scepticism about man-made global warming and saying Russia stands to benefit from it. But in recent months he has also made statements to the effect that climate change is not just a boon to Moscow. In a phone call with US climate envoy John Kerry on Wednesday, Putin said that Moscow and Washington have "common interests and similar approaches" when it comes to the "climate problem". He also told the former US secretary of state that Moscow "attaches great importance" to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and "advocates de-politicising" dialogue on climate change.