MOSCOW, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- An international summit on the treaty defining claims to the arctic gives Russia the opportunity to present its evidence to the community, an official said.
The Russian Geographical Society opened an arctic summit Wednesday. The United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia are examining claims to arctic territory, which could hold vast oil and natural gas reserves.
Global climate change is in part responsible for the receding of sea ice, meaning hydrocarbons may become more accessible as average temperatures increase.
The 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea gives bordering nations the right to extend arctic claims if the government can prove its continental shelf extends beyond a 200-mile limit.
Moscow plans to spend at least $50 million in defining its continental shelf in the arctic. Russia could expand its claims by another 460,000 square miles and explore for oil and gas near the Chukotka Peninsula if its efforts are successful, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Moscow claimed part of the region in 2001 but the United Nations demanded more proof the area was part of Russian territory.
"The International Arctic Forum in Russia will allow us to stimulate domestic dialogue on the issues concerning the situation in the Arctic region and to present the world community with a picture of the region's future as it is seen by the Russian experts," Sergei Shoigu, president of the Russian Geographical Society, was quoted as saying.
Moscow aims to have its claim study prepared by 2013.
