It takes more than a flag to claim the Arctic (Image: AP Photo/RTR Russian Channel)
In August 2007, Russian scientists planted a flag on the seabed at the North Pole. This was a remarkable achievement and made headlines, but it did not make the pole Russian.
The rather more mundane act of the country鈥檚 (CLCS) last week constitutes a more significant step in that direction, albeit one that may take many more years to conclude.
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With this fresh claim, Russia is seeking a substantial slice of the Arctic seabed. If granted, it would gain control over submerged resources, such as oil and gas.
Russia actually laid claim to the pole in 2001, when it made the first ever submission to the CLCS, set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The commission helps states define the outer limit of their continental shelf, but only where this is more than 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from the coast, the default limit for national rights.
It accepted parts of Russia鈥檚 case back then, but for the crucial central Arctic Ocean, it wanted more data.
The full document 鈥� 13 years in the making and reportedly 2000 pages long 鈥� is confidential, but the executive summary argues that geological and geophysical research confirms Russia鈥檚 original claim. This claim was that the , the Mendeleev Rise, the Chukchi Rise, the Podvodnikov Basin and the Chukchi Basin form a single consolidated block of continental crust extending from its territory.
The race is not on
The 2015 submission features most of the 1.3 million square kilometres of seabed claimed in 2001. It also adds 103,000 square kilometres for good measure, including an area beyond latitude 90掳 north, within the Arctic sector where Canadian and Danish territories lie.
Russia鈥檚 case will probably be reviewed by the CLCS in 2016. Even if agreed, the seabed in question does not automatically become Russian. Denmark has , which argues that the Lomonosov Ridge and North Pole is also an extension of its territory in Greenland.
The by 584,000 square kilometres and both may be at least partially valid. Canada may also make a submission similar to Denmark鈥檚. It could easily be another decade before the CLCS review is complete, and then the governments will need to negotiate about how to carve up areas of overlapping entitlement.
Despite the headlines, there is no race to secure control of the Arctic Ocean. There is an established process for defining rights over seabed resources enshrined in international law, and so far all Arctic states have followed that process scrupulously.
It is also worth noting that, however the continental shelf is divided, the water and ice of the central Arctic Ocean will remain high seas, owned by everyone and no one.
