Speaking in Yekaterinburg at the interregional conference of the United Russia party, the Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin noted that expansion to the Arctic region is imperative for protecting Russia’s national interests.  

Mr. Putin did say that Russia will engage in constructive talks with other countries making claims to the Arctic. Still, the Prime Minister noted that the country will secure its strategic and geopolitical interests.

Members of the international community who have laid claims to the arctic region include the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and Norway. 

The north boundary of the Russian Federation was established in 1926 by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. as a line running from the Bering Strait to the Kola Peninsula through the North Pole.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that Russia ratified in 1997 provides that the countries of the Arctic are entitled to claim territorial waters extending 12 miles out from the coast. In addition, the Convention provides the countries a 200-mile economic zone, where each particular state can exercise the exclusive control over natural resources. A state can expand its economic zone if it is established to the satisfaction of the international community that its continental shelf extends beyond the 200 mile zone from the coast. At this time, Russian scientists are at work on proving that the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleyev Ridge are parts of the continental shelf stretching all the way from Eastern Siberia. Russia stands to acquire nearly one million square kilometers of the Arctic if its endeavors are successful.