MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - 2007 is set to be the warmest year in one and a half centuries for Russia, the head of the Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia said on Thursday.

"We are 99% sure that this will be the warmest year in the 150-year period in which accurate weather records have been kept," Roman Vilfand told a press-conference.

Vilfand said that on a wider scale, the year was set to become one of the top five warmest years our planet has seen since global temperatures have been recorded. He said it meant "that a warming of the climate is undoubtedly going on."

He also said that although this year Russia has suffered from natural disasters such as storms and hurricanes, the total amount of damage caused by nature has proved to be less than that in 2006.

Vilfand added that Alexander Bedritsky, the head of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, had been reelected head of the World Meteorological Organization.