Russia Claims North Pole
Russia’s explorers who were responsible for placing the Russian flag below the North Pole received a hero’s welcome in Moscow today while the rest of the world denied the territorial claims made by Russia.
Russia has released the photographs of the historic moment when the tricolor flag was planted on the Arctic shelf almost 2 and 1/2 miles deep in the Arctic Ocean. Russia is laying claim to the vast resources located in that area. The rest of the world is not buying it however, saying that the placement of the flag has no legal standing. Along with Canada and the United States, Denmark and Norway are challenging Russia’s claim to the valuable region which is suspected to hold a quarter of the world’s remaining oil reserves.
The claim for the territory was already denied in 2001 for lack of scientific evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge was an extension of Russia’s continental shelf. The Russian submarines that planted the flag were in the area trying to collect evidence to back up their claims.
According to the UN Law of the Sea treaty, a country may claim resources of the seabed up to 200 miles beyond the end of its continental shelf which means Russia, Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark each have a share.
