LISTVYANKA (Irkutsk Region), August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's prime minister proposed on Saturday introducing tougher responsibility for environmental pollution.

Speaking at an environment protection conference after a dive to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, Baikal, Vladimir Putin said Russia lacks measures that would urge enterprises to introduce environmentally friendly technology.

"We need to develop and introduce such mechanisms soon. Besides, measures of responsibility for environmental pollution should be worked out," he said.

Putin also said Saturday that the Baikal Pulp Mill that halted production in October 2008 will start operating again as the owners and the government could agree on the most acceptable variant that would see production resumed and the unique lake preserved.

"Now they [the owners] are ready to agree to any of the submitted variants," Putin said.

The Baikal mill had been pumping toxic waste into the lake since the 1960s and was forced to shut after switching to a closed water cycle to meet environmental requirements, which made the business unprofitable, and due to a drop in revenue amid the economic crisis.

The premier said: "We will not act thoughtlessly and carelessly, without thinking of nature and Baikal, but we need to act carefully, thinking of people who live here as well."

After Putin visited a closed cement plant in Pikalyovo in northwest Russia in June and ordered that wage arrears be paid off to workers, the payments were made on the same day, and the plant owners agreed to resume production.