Kathrine Frich
The Arctic is heating up again as melting ice opens new routes and raises the stakes over resources and control.
In a region governed by complex international rules, symbolic gestures can quickly become geopolitical flashpoints.
One past mission is now being revisited as Russia pushes its long-term strategy in the far north.
Arctic rules shift
The high Arctic is not owned by any single country.
Coastal states control land and waters within 200 nautical miles, while areas beyond those zones are treated as international waters.
The seabed in parts of the central Arctic Ocean remains disputed under international law, and that Russia’s war in Ukraine has added strain to cooperation that held for decades.
Flag on seabed
According to the Daily Express, a Russian expedition in 2007 carried out a crewed descent to the ocean floor at the North Pole and placed a titanium capsule containing the Russian flag.
The mission also gathered samples and recorded footage.
The report says the expedition was tied to Moscow’s effort to argue that the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of Russia’s continental shelf.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, dismissed criticism, saying:
“The goal of this expedition is not to stake out Russia’s rights, but to prove that our shelf stretches up to the North Pole,” and adding: “There are concrete scientific methods for this.”
Criticism and buildup
Other countries objected. Former Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said:
“This isn’t the 15th century. You can’t go around the world and just plant flags and say ‘We’re claiming this territory’.”
Former US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said planting the flag “doesn’t have any legal standing or effect on this claim”.
The Daily Express also points to Russia’s Arctic Strategy to 2035, including military expansion, and notes later developments such as a deadly 2018 fire aboard the AS-12 submarine and Norwegian concerns about increased Russian weapons activity on the Kola Peninsula.
Sources: Daily Express
