MOSCOW. Jan 25 (Interfax) - Russia's participation in the document, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, will depend on the socio-economic development of Russia itself and the position of the biggest emitters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"By having ratified the Kyoto Protocol, we made a reservation that it is only for the period of its validity until 2012. We will decide what happens after this depending on how we advance socially and economically, what our economic needs will be and what will be the positions of other emitters. This has been clear to everybody from the very beginning," Lavrov said in the Pyataya Studiya program with Sergei Brilev on the Russia television channel on Thursday evening.

"And I will say that a consensus was taking shape that took into account the U.S. position to a greater extent than earlier. Namely, that all the biggest emitters should be parties to the future agreement and that absolute priority should be given to voluntary obligations which each country will assume, taking into consideration its future economic prospects and the common responsibility for the climate condition," the minister said.