Mr Putin said his decision fits with the great attention he gives to environmental issues. In particular, he issued an executive order declaring 2013 the Environment Year in Russia.
Russia will take part in Earth Hour, the biggest event of this kind in human history, for the fifth time. In 2012, 150 countries and around 2 billion people, including more than 16 million in Russia, took part in the event.
Earth Hour is an international event organised by the World Wildlife Fund that aims to raise global awareness of the climate change issue. The idea behind the event is that all around the world people voluntarily switch off the lights at exactly the same time for an hour, and decorative lighting at different countries’ symbolic buildings is also switched off.
Famous buildings and monuments that have taken part in the event include Buckingham Palace and the Parliament Buildings in London, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, New York’s Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, and the Great Wall of China.