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Russia claims North Pole riches

MOSCOW: Russian mini-submarines planted a Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole on Thursday, giving Russia a head start in the race for the energy riches of the Arctic Ocean.

Two manned diving craft reached the ocean floor about 4,300 metres beneath the ice-clad North Pole. This became a double first for mankind: it is for the first time that man dived so deep into the ocean and the first time that he reached seabed at the North Pole.

One of the mini-subs set up a rust-proof titanium flag on the seabed in what a Russian official described as a “risky and heroic” mission comparable to “putting a flag on the Moon”.

The submarines, Mir-1 and Mir-2, also took samples of rocks below the seabed in order to prove that the underwater Lomonosov Ridge, which crosses through the North Pole, is a geological extension of Russia. This would allow Russia to support its claim to 1.2 million sqkm of the Arctic shelf containing up to 10 billion tonnes of oil and gas.

The current Russian expedition, the second this summer, has triggered intense rivalry, with the U.S., Canada, Denmark and others scrambling to mount their own missions to claim chunks of the Arctic seabed. NATO planes tailed the Russian convoy of ships.

An atomic icebreaker ploughed a path for the convoy through thick ice cover. Both mini-submarines successfully went through this most dangerous part of the journey, even though Mir-1 damaged its hatch as it hit the ice on surfacing.

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