Russia's Arctic Plays Concern Region

Of eight nations with rights to Arctic resources, Russia has been most aggressive in its claims.

The polar ice cap is shrinking at a rate of 9% each decade as Arctic ice thins, melts and ruptures. The consequences for global warming are potentially catastrophic. Yet as the ice recedes, Arctic resources are becoming more accessible. Eight countries–the U.S., Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland–have claims to those resources. Of these, Russia has been the most active in putting forward claims, creating significant anxiety for some of the other Arctic states.

The Arctic region is governed by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Seven Arctic states have signed and ratified UNCLOS. The eighth, the U.S., played a major role in negotiating the treaty but has not yet signed it. Russia is intent on carrying out exploratory missions to prove its Arctic continental shelf is part of its territory, which, according to UNCLOS, would allow it to extend its zone of sovereignty in the region.

Russia first submitted claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf–the panel of scientists at the U.N. responsible for making decisions about expanded territorial rights in the Arctic–as early as 2001. It argued that the undersea Lomonosov Ridge and Mendeleyev Rise are a continuation of the Russian continental shelf, and therefore part of Russian territory. The claim was rejected for lack of evidence. Moscow has pledged to submit new documentary evidence by 2010.

Two Arctic expeditions (in 2005 and 2007) have already been undertaken in search of evidence. In 2008, the National Security Council adopted the “Principles of the Russian Federation State Policy in the Arctic for the Period to 2020,” which stipulates that geological, geophysical, hydrographic and cartographic work to prepare the necessary evidence must be completed by 2010. However, Artur Chilingarov, Russia’s representative for international cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, has already caused international concern by warning that if Russia’s rights are not recognized, it will withdraw from UNCLOS.

Forbes