By DPA
Moscow : Russia has opened a new Arctic polar research station in a bid to reinforce its claims to Arctic gas and oil deposits, Interfax news agency reported Friday.
The drifting station research unit, North Pole-35, was set up in the Arctic Friday, the agency reported, citing a spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute.
The report said the Russian flag would also be hoisted at the research unit, where 22 researchers and scientists would work, most of them Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) staff.
Russia claims that testing of samples gathered in an expedition last month have proven that a vast mountain range under the Arctic Ocean is part of Russia.
Samples of earth taken by Russians, who planted a titanium flag on the seabed below the North Pole in August, prove that the undersea Lomonosov range is connected to the Russia mainland, Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry claimed Thursday.
The other polar states Canada, the United States, Denmark and Norway have also asserted their claims to the region.
President Vladimir Putin is hoping to secure Russia’s claim to the Lomonosov range at the United Nations by 2009.
It is estimated that there are 10 billion tonnes of oil and gas in the polar region worth more than $1 trillion.