The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming

[SoCalDem]

and not in a humorous Theodore Bikel-ish way..

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9ICUMBO0.htm

Russia confident its Arctic claim will succeed

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

MOSCOW

Russia is optimistic about winning the United Nations' approval of its claim to Arctic territories that are rich in oil and gas, a senior Kremlin adviser said Wednesday. With shrinking polar ice opening up new opportunities for exploring the Arctic region, Russia as well as Canada and Denmark have said they would file claims with the U.N. that an undersea mountain range called the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of their respective territories.

Those three countries, along with the United States and Norway, have been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the polar region believed to contain as much as a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas. Russia was the first to submit its claim in 2001, but the U.N. sent it back for lack of evidence. In 2007 Russia staked a symbolic claim to the region by dropping a canister containing the Russian flag on the ocean floor from a small submarine at the North Pole.

Now, Russia is preparing a new report for the U.N. after gathering more data to support its Arctic claim, including samples from the Arctic sea bed collected by a polar expedition this year, said Alexander Bedritsky, presidential adviser on climate change.

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"We will protect our interests in the Arctic with all civilized instruments envisaged by international agreements," Bedritsky said. "I don't think it will lead to a confrontation, even though some nations are talking about strengthening their military potential." Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week that Russia is wary of NATO's presence in the Arctic region and said that it could raise additional problems.