Russia Arctic Shelf Expansion Claim to UN Beneficial for Denmark, Canada

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's revised bid to the United Nations on the expansion of its Arctic shelf border is advantageous for Denmark and Canada — countries liable to contest Russia's claims and present their own, the scientific coordinator of the preparatory work for the Russian bid, Leopold Lobkovsky, said Tuesday.

Russia submitted a revised application to the United Nations seeking to expand its Arctic shelf border by including the Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges. Russia has been seeking the recognition of an expanded resource-rich outer limit of the continental shelf (OLCS) since 2001, but has been turned down over a lack of geological evidence that the two ridges are natural continuations of its shelf.

"Russia's bid puts wind into the sails of Denmark and Canada's bids. The continental ridges stretch from our [Russian] territory to Canada and Denmark: we can extend the shelf [along the ridges] and they can as well. If this model is passed, the ridge can be shared between the three countries geometrically, counting kilometers," Lobkovsky, a deputy director of Marine Geology Division at Russian Academy of Sciences oceanology institute, told RIA Novosti.

According to the scientist, if Russia's relations with Denmark and Canada were not overshadowed by political tensions, the three nations could have filed a joint bid.

"Unfortunately, that is not happening, they do not want to interact with us. We have no conflict of interest with Canada or Denmark, because all three countries are interested in extending the shelf up to the pole," he added.

Beside Russia, Denmark and Canada, the United States and Norway have also shown interest in the region believed to hold enormous untapped oil and natural gas resources.