A special subcommittee at the United Nations has sided with Russia and recognized that a 52-thousand-square-kilometer section of the Okhotsk Sea constitutes a part of Russia’s continental shelf. The subcommittee is now expected to issue a corresponding report to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The recommendations will be made public at the 33rd session of the full Commission in February and March 2014.

According to the Natural Resources Ministry of the Russian Federation, the section of the Okhotsk Sea in question will legally be recognized as belonging to Russia once the Commission decides to follow the recommendations presented. The recognition of the Okhotsk Sea section as a continuation of Russia’s continental shelf also means that Russia acquires the rights to extract subsurface natural resources from under the Okhotsk Sea seabed. Russian laws regarding the continental shelf will govern in the territory of the Okhotsk Sea section. Furthermore, Russian mandates regarding fishing, ecological safety, and state security will cover the enclave in the Okhotsk Sea.

According to Sergei Donskoi, the Minister of Natural Resources, the process leading up to the recognition of the Okhotsk Sea section as part of Russia’s continental shelf took a number of years. In his comments praising the scientific and the diplomatic effort, the Minister even went as far along as to compare the Okhotsk Sea enclave with AN Baba’s cave in its wealth of natural resources. The Minister is convinced that the exploration and development within the Okhotsk Sea section will generate substantial opportunities for the economy of Russia as a whole.

Earlier, the Russian government furnished to the United Nations subcommittee extra arguments and items of evidence favoring the recognition of the enclave as Russian territory. The papers presented were based on new data that Russian scientific expeditions collected in the three-month period from August to October 2013. Russian scientists have specifically performed bathymetric analyses in the Okhotsk Sea enclave.

More than 10 years prior, in 2001, Russia combined its application for expanding the boundaries of the Sea of Okhotsk enclave and the borders of Russia’s arctic section as well. However, the United Nations Commission asked the Russian government to revise the two applications. The bid for extending Russia’s continental shelf boundaries in the arctic areas, including the Lomonosov ridge and the Mendeleev ridge, would take much more time and effort to prepare, as it would affect the interests of several countries.

As the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources Denis Khramov noted, the Okhotsk Sea section represents a small fragment of the area covered in Russia’s original application.

According to Mr. Khramov, the main components of the arctic application were the Lomonosov and the Mendeleev ridges, the application for which may be re-filed as early as next year. At the same time, prior to submitting the application, the Russian officials would be bound to determine whether the timing is appropriate for bringing it up for review. According to Deputy Minister Khramov, other countries could be in a position to claim the arctic areas that Russia wants to bring under its control. These include the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.

The Natural Resources Ministry has previously indicated that the country’s territory would be increased by some 1.2 million square kilometers in the event Russia’s arctic application is granted. Hydrocarbon reserves in the area have been estimated at five billion tons.

To support their claims, scientists in Russia assert that the Lomonosov and the Mendeleev ridges are a part of the continental shelf of Eastern Siberia. Other states laying claims to the arctic seabed include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, as well as Sweden. Canada, the most vocal of Russia’s challengers, announced that it will furnish to the United Nations evidence corroborating its claims to the arctic seabed in the near future.