Russia’s National Security Council has approved 12-year guidelines for diplomatic action to secure and protect Russian sectors of the resource-rich shelf of the Arctic Ocean.

The move followed the statement of President Dmitri Medvedev. “For safeguarding its positions in energy and world trade, Russia has to expand its resource base into the Arctic Ocean. It must protect its vital interests in the area with the help of appropriate international agreements on the Arctic. Such agreements would form a legal foundation for its northward expansion in the resource industries,” the President said.

The Arctic shelf may contain up to one fourth of the world’s offshore oil and natural gas.

At present, oil, gas, and metals from the Russian Arctic already account for 20 percent of the country’s GDP and for 22 percent of its export.

Russia’s Arctic neighbors, including Canada, Norway, Denmark, and the United States are stepping up minerals exploration and setting up military outposts in the Arctic basin.

Russia is putting forward a program of multilateral international cooperation in the high Arctic. Before December, the Russian government is to discuss concrete guidelines for this project.