Former Secretary of State John Kerry was excoriated by critics Thursday for expressing hope that Russian President Vladmir Putin would help the world “stay on track” with fighting climate change despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces. Kerry’s comments came during an appearance Wednesday on BBC Arabic, in which Biden’s climate envoy also lamented the potential “emissions consequences” from the war in Ukraine and worried the attention of large countries would be “diverted” from fighting climate change because of the conflict.

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