The legal basis of Russian mitigation policies is fragmented and largely driven by interests other than environmental protection facilitated by historically favourable GHG emission trends. Indirect policies focusing on the energy sector with less obvious links to GHG mitigation targets could, in theory, deliver more emissions reductions over time as various synergies exist between more general policy goals and mitigation. However, the weaknesses of the administrative system leading to problems with implementation and the declarative nature of many policy goals undermine the tasks at hand. It seems that Russia’s mitigation measures and their success is largely detached from actual climate policies and international regime. These problems with implementing existing mitigation policies further limit Moscow’s possibilities of committing to emissions-reduction targets due to the related risks of compliance.