Russia plants flag on seabed under North Pole

[redtanker]

Sub reaches bottom of Arctic Ocean in bid to claim resource-rich region

MOSCOW - A Russian submersible reached the bottom of the Arctic Ocean on Thursday in a mission to symbolically claim the resource-rich region by planting a flag on the seabed under the North Pole, Russian media reported.

Two Russian submersibles started their dive from an ice hole near the North Pole and dived about 13,980 ft., Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing its correspondent on board a support ship.

The second submersible is expected to reach the seabed soon, Vesti-24 television station reported.

Under international law, the five states with territory inside the Arctic Circle -- Canada, Norway, Russia, the United states and Denmark.

have a 200 mile economic zone around the north of their coastline.

But Russia is claiming a larger slice extending as far as the North Pole because, Moscow says, the Arctic seabed and Siberia are linked by the same continental shelf.

Soviet and U.S. nuclear submarines have often traveled under the polar icecap, but no one has so far reached the seabed under the Pole, where depths exceed 13,100 feet.

Expedition leaders have said their main worry is to resurface at the ice hole where they dived as the mini-submersibles are not strong enough to break through the North Pole’s desolate ice cap

[conlor]

Well, I think Santa Claus is going to have something to say about this!