Russia has no claims on the North Pole nor does it plan to militarise the Arctic, but it aims to persuade a United Nations commission of additional territorial claims, a Russian official said on Monday.
Anton Vasilyev, Russian envoy to the eight-nation Arctic Council, said that an expedition that planted a Russian flag on the North Pole seabed in 2007 did not signify a territorial claim.
"A flag was planted on the polar seabed and we're proud of this. It was a triumph of Russian technology and the Russian spirit. But it is not a territorial claim…. The North Pole is not Russian territory," Vasilyev said.
The envoy was speaking to reporters before an April 29 meeting of the Arctic Council, an inter-governmental body representing countries in the region.
The 2007 North Pole expedition focussed world attention on the claims of Russia and other nations to Arctic territory and the vast energy and mineral resources believed to lie there.
Expedition leader Artur Chilingarov made a series of eye-catching claims at the time, such as: "The Arctic has always been Russian and will remain so."
On Monday Vasilyev said Russia would continue efforts to convince a UN commission that is trying to decide on territorial claims in the Arctic of the correctness of Russia's claims.
These are based on the argument that an underwater geological structure, the Lomonosov Ridge, which stretches across much of the Arctic, is a continuation of Russia's continental shelf.
Russia must do more "to persuade the 21 members of the commission that parts of the seabed… are of a continental character, are a continuation of the geomorphological continent," said Vasilyev.
He also referred to a Russian strategy document for the period to 2020 that envisages strengthening security in the region. He insisted this merely meant boosting border and coastguard services and upgrading surveillance equipment.
"We don't see the need for a militarisation of the Arctic. The situation in the Arctic is favourable and calm, stable and predictable. We're far from taking any hasty decisions in the area," he said.
Russia's security plans consisted of "strengthening the border guard and coastguard and strengthening infrastructure, restoring and creating infrastructure to monitor and check the situation," he said.
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