Members of Russia's North Pole expedition of May 30, 2007. FSB Director Nikolay Patrushev, left, is one of explorers.
Photo: Olga Chumachenko
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Britain, Abkhazia Join the Dispute for Arctic Seabed
The debates about the claims to the Arctic seabed have become particularly heated once Russia planted its flag deep in the ocean under the North Pole. Great Britain and even Georgia’s unrecognized republic Abkhazia are likely to join the league of nations competing for the rich wealth of the region.
R.K. Headland from Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, said he dropped a coin during the North Pole expedition in 1991, The Times reported. That coin showed the image of Her Majesty and could be viewed of symbolic importance similar to the flag of Russia planted in 16 years after the drop.
Moreover, it emerged past weekend that the flag of unrecognized Abkhazia was left in the North Pole during the last expedition there. Abkhazia’s President Sergey Bagapsh learned about it during a phone conversation with Artur Chilingarov, lawmaker of Russia’s State Duma and participant of the expedition. Chilingarov is “a long friend of Abkhazia,” Kavkazsky Uzel reported.
Even though Bagapsh hasn’t claimed the Arctic so far, Georgia Online promptly speculated that the flag of Abkhazia would extend to the north the territory of that separatist enclave.
One of the key purposes of the recent North Pole dive of two Russian mini-subs was to check whether the ridges continue the continental shelf of the country. The evidence will enable Moscow to claim extension of territory in the Arctic seabed. The Arctic that is said to contain up to 25 percent of the world’s crude oil and natural gas reserves is becoming more and more lucrative in view of the melting ice of the North Pole.
Apart from Russia, the list of competing nations includes the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway.
www.kommersant.com
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