comrade Santa

Interesting article on Russia's attempt to claim the North Pole. Even though the polar region is technically frozen ocean, the terrain below the ice contain billion of tons of oil and natural gas. Under internation law, a country's territorial boundary can be extended if it can prove that the continental shelf into which it wishes to expand is a natural extension of its own territory. So Russian scientists recently spent almost two months researching the "Lomonosov ridge", an underwater ridge which they claim links Russia's Arctic coast to the North Pole. Controversy has, of course, ensued.