"Taking into account the quality of evidence supporting the claim and the past experience in working with the UN commission, we are expecting the decision to be positive," Donskoy told RIA Novosti.
The minister stressed that the consideration of the bid is carried out by an independent panel of experts in the form of an open scientific debate, and, therefore, is unlikely to be affected by current tensions in Russia's relations with the West.
"The revision of applications [submitted to the UN] takes on average two years. This gives the applicants an opportunity to prepare all necessary materials, or even carry out additional research, if necessary. Taking into account the large volume of the Russian application, it could take [the UN commission] three to five years to assess the bid," Donskoy said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
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 due to lack of geological evidence that the territory is a natural continuation of Russia's shelf.
Moscow submitted a revised application to the United Nations in August 2015.
