This time, the Russian tricolor will not be stuck into the ocean floor, but will fly over the new drifting station North Pole-35. The flagship of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring Academician Fedorov and the nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossia is bound for the Sea of Chukotsk for this mission. This is a planned trip that was organized well in advance. But the current struggle for the ocean shelf may prompt other claimants to see it as yet another of Moscow's attempts to grab a huge piece of the Arctic pie and may further escalate the rivalry for the re-division of a region which harbors up to a quarter of the world's hydrocarbon reserves.
Russia's resolute bid for the North Pole, or to be more exact, the triangle adjacent to it, stretching for 1.2 million square km has caused a hostile response. The United States reciprocated by sending its reconnaissance aircraft to escort the Russian ships, and then hastily made up its own expedition and sent it aboard the Healy icebreaker of its Coast Guard to the North Pole. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also made a tour of his country's Arctic possessions and announced that they will soon be guarded by six patrol ships and a new military base on the American Far North. Denmark came next. It does not have its own icebreakers, and had to use the Swedish Oden and the Russian nuclear-powered 50 Years of Victory ship.
But these are not all the interested parties. German polar explorers are conducting "reconnaissance" in the Arctic Ocean on the PFS Polarstern research vessel, and their French colleagues are making a great polar challenge on the Tara schooner. From time to time, the Arctic is visited by the Chinese Snowy Dragon icebreaker, and some reports say that the Indians are interested in the region as well.
The old-time territorial dispute with Norway is a special subject. Last year, it submitted an application to the UN commission of the continental shelf borders after Russia, claiming a considerable part of the ocean, which we consider ours. This is a "grey area" of 155,000 square km, containing a rich gas deposit. In some estimates, it has up to three trillion cubic meters of gas. But it seems that we will come to terms with our northern neighbors. At any rate, both sides are willing to settle the issue before other players intervene. Recently, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to speed up the signing of a compromise agreement.
But the interests of the coastal countries clash not only in "the Russian triangle." Our northward expansion has poured oil on the flames, which have long been smoldering on the other side of the pole, in the Western Hemisphere. If polar ice continues to melt at the same rate, the North-West Passage will become open for navigation. It is the shortest route from Europe to Asia and is also rich in hydrocarbons. Canada and Denmark are the primary claimants for this territory. They are sending their warships to the strategically important uninhabited island of Hans and putting out their flags one after another. But the United States also wants this passage, as George W. Bush plainly told the Canadian Prime Minister the other day. There are other claimants as well - Sweden, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Russia will probably not mind claiming it either - after all, who can match its powerful fleet of icebreakers?
The current activities of the coastal and remote states in the Arctic have quite an innocent excuse. Studies of the ocean shelf are taking place in the framework of the International Polar Year, which started last spring. But it is not only scientists who are waiting for the results from numerous expeditions. Government officials, diplomats, maritime law experts and heads of oil and gas companies seem to be much more impatient. In Russia, policymakers are also waiting for these results because the polar region may become their trump card in the election campaign. It is enough to mention the much-publicized polar expedition of Duma deputy speaker Artur Chilingarov, which had nothing to do with the research.
Emotions are running high and this probably explains the urge to be the first to report the victory. The press reported the other day that the studies by Russian scientists have supposedly confirmed that the oceanic Lomonosov ridge, which is the cause of the squabble, is the continuation of the Siberian continental platform, and therefore belongs to Russia. But on the following day the Oceanic Research Institute, a participant in the Arctic-2007 project, refuted this sensation. It also transpires that the samples received by Chilingarov's team were irrelevant to the issue - the North Pole is away from this submerged viaduct connecting Russia with Greenland and Canada.
Experts maintain that it will take a lot of time to thoroughly analyze the data received by expeditions recently and earlier. Moreover, they believe that these results should be buttressed by in-depth drilling but Russia does not have the equipment for it. The Murmansk Marine Shipping Company offered to re-equip its nuclear-powered barge carrying the Sevmorput ship for this purpose but this requires time and money.
And time is running out. By May 13, 2009 (this is the deadline), Russia will have to pass a serious international exam and provide convincing evidence for its bid for the Arctic shelf. But Lindsay Parson from British Southampton University believes that the chances of the other coastal states are as good as those of the Russians.
In the meantime, some humorists in the West are discussing whose stamps the only resident of the North Pole - Santa Claus - will attach to his envelopes. Well, we would like them to be Russian, of course...
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
