Putin plays down talk of battle for Arctic resources

Rahul92

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has rejected talk of an impending battle for control of the Arctic region's mineral resources.

He told an international conference in Moscow he was confident the region's resources could be exploited in a spirit of partnership.

Russia believes the UN will recognise its claim to much of the Arctic seabed.

The scramble for resources has been set in motion partly by improved access caused by the melting of polar ice.


Mr Putin's speech was much anticipated

The scramble for resources has been set in motion partly by improved access caused by the melting of polar ice.

Russia, Norway, Canada, Denmark and the US have all laid claims to territory in the region.

"One comes across all sorts of fantastical predictions about a coming battle for the Arctic," Mr Putin told the International Arctic Forum on its closing day.

"We can see clearly that most of these frightening scenarios in the Arctic have no real foundation...

"I am in no doubt whatsoever that the existing problems of the Arctic, including those of the continental shelf, may be resolved in a spirit of partnership, through negotiations, on the basis of existing international legal norms."

Mr Putin's speech was much anticipated given Russia's fast-moving attempts to claim control of a huge swathe of extra territory in the Arctic all the way to the North Pole, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.
Ridge claims

One-quarter of the Earth's untapped energy riches are believed to be buried in the Arctic sea floor.

The race for control centres on an underwater mountain range known as the Lomonosov Ridge.

Russia, Canada and Denmark are all seeking scientific proof that the ridge is an underwater extension of their continental shelf.

In 2001, Moscow submitted a territorial claim to the United Nations which was rejected because of lack of evidence.

It plans to resubmit the claim in 2012-13 after spending some 2bn roubles ($64m) on research, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Canada is likely to hand its file to the UN around 2013 while Denmark plans to put forward its details by the end of 2014.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal nation can claim exclusive economic rights to natural resources on or beneath the sea floor up to 200 nautical miles (370km) beyond their land territory.

But if the continental shelf extends beyond that distance, the country must provide evidence to a UN commission which will then make recommendations about establishing an outer limit.

 

Tshering22

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The claims seem to be quite justified if you see the geography of the division. Although I dispute on American claims. It is not even connected to the North pole in any manner except for Alaska, which is still within mainland Canadian territory and doesn't extend to the pole. Even Denmark's right isn't so much because of the connection to North pole which is only through Greenland for them. Canada, Russia and Norway's claims seem to be fine enough though.
 

Patriot

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Russia increases combat capabilities in Arctic

MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is currently increasing its combat potential in the Arctic with new ships and additional station sites, Navy Commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said on Saturday.

Russian naval ships and submarines have already conducted over ten military patrols of the Arctic in 2010, Vysotsky said.

"In accordance with the Russian Armed Forces' plan of strategic deterrence we take measures aimed to demonstrate military presence in the Arctic," the navy commander said.

The Russian Navy is currently taking measures to integrate the Glonass satellite system with the RSDN-20 radio-technical navigation system, he added.

The RSDN-20 is a navaid used to determine positions of aircraft, vessels and submarines; however its effectiveness is low. Integration with Glonass will allow the system to determine positions of objects with the accuracy of 1-5 kilometers.

Glonass - the Global Navigation Satellite System - is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

Russia and other countries with an Arctic coastline all lay claims to the region's seabed, said to contain one quarter of the world's mineral resources. The untapped riches are becoming more accessible due to melting ice.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a recent international conference in Moscow that the Arctic would not become a battleground as potential territory disputes could be resolved through negotiation.







Russia increases combat capabilities in Arctic
 

sandeepdg

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I don't quite see the merit of US and Denmark in laying claim to the Arctic resources. Russia, Canada and Norway are more deserving and they should mutually share the resources among them. God know why the Danes are jumping so much, a puny country of 5 million people.
 

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