Russia will succeed in persuading the UN to rule in favor of its claim to the Lomonosov Ridge under the Arctic Ocean, an ambassador at large said on Monday.
" I am sure, that the process [of defining the external boundaries of the Russian continental shelf] will be crowned with success," Anton Vasilyev, who is also a senior official in the Arctic Council, said at a press conference dedicated to the forum "The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue."
Russia and Canada are in dispute over the Lomonosov ridge, with both countries trying to persuade a UN commission that it is an extension of its own continental shelf. Russia and Canada's foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Lawrence Canon, agreed on Thursday that scientific evidence should resolve the dispute.
The process of defining whether the ridge is a continuation of the Russian continental shelf or not is unlikely to lead to conflicts between Russia and other countries, Vasilyev added.
Russia first laid claim to the territory in 2001, but the United Nations demanded more conclusive evidence.
Those who say there will be a conflict of interests in relation to the claims are unaware of the situation, or pursuing concealed interests, Vasilyev said.
Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway are seeking to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to contain rich oil and gas deposits. The vast hydrocarbon deposits will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice.
Lavrov said Russia is working to submit additional data to persuade the UN to rule in favor of its claim.
In late July, the Russian research vessel Akademik Fedorov left Arkhangelsk for a three-month expedition to the Arctic to ascertain the borders of Russia's continental shelf.
Russia has said it will invest some 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) in defining the extent of its Arctic continental shelf in 2010.
MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti)
