The Russian senator was speaking about Washington's publication of new official maps. According to them, the continental shelf now extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast in the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, and Pacific Ocean, two areas in the Gulf of Mexico, and near the Mariana Islands. The US State Department clarified that this does not create territorial disputes with Russia, but will require resolution with Canada and Japan.
Kosachev explained that the United States has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), making it a pariah among maritime nations. At the same time, claims to the continental shelf should be considered by the UN Commission.
"As a result, the Americans are acting today without any international legal basis, which means that the international community has every right not to recognize the new boundaries," the senator wrote.
He added that the Commission's mandate is based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 76, paragraph 8). Russia fully complies with the provisions of the convention, which require the submission of applications for the extension of the shelf to the Commission.
"By the way, the last time Russia received positive recommendations from the Commission to expand its shelf in the Arctic was in February 2023. This work continues even today," Kosachev noted.
According to him, this time "the Americans have outdone themselves." They ignored the territorial interests of their own allies - Canada and Japan.
"I remind you that in 2012, the Obama administration made a futile attempt to ratify the 1982 Convention. Republicans in the US Senate buried the idea, arguing that the Convention violated US national sovereignty (after this episode, the Senate began to be called the 'graveyard of international treaties')," the senator concluded.
According to Bloomberg, the extended continental shelf covers mostly the Arctic and the Bering Sea. The US wants to gain access to minerals for the production of batteries for electric vehicles. In addition, the shelf contains oil and gas deposits.