Trump shouldn't be judged over Paris accord: Putin

US President Donald Trump should not be judged for his decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

"I would refrain from judging President Trump right now because it was President (Barack) Obama who made the decision (on joining the Paris Agreement)," he said.

"...Maybe the new President believes it was not well-conceived, maybe he thinks there are not enough resources... This situation needs to be thoroughly assessed," TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying.

At the same time, the Russian President pointed out that "it was possible not to withdraw from the Paris agreement because it is a framework document so the US's obligations could have been changed."

Putin said that Moscow wanted to wait before ratifying the Paris climate agreement till the participating countries set out clear-cut rules.

"As far as I remember, the US has ratified the agreement, but we (Russia) have not done it yet," he said.

"We have not done this since we want to wait until the rules for distributing resources are set out, along with other purely technical but essential things," Putin added.

--IANS

soni/dg