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Sunday 05.02.2012

No interest in conflict, Russia says...

Russia played down worries of a possible armed conflict in the Arctic over control of the region's potentially huge mineral riches on June 10.

Russia on Wednesday played down worries of a possible armed conflict in the Arctic over control of the region's potentially huge mineral riches, Reuters reports.



Russian president's envoy to the Arctic, Artur Chilingarov, told a news briefing that talk of a war in the Arctic was misplaced.

"Nobody's going to war with anybody, we don't need to talk about this," he said. "We will defend our economic interests but I don't see a conflict in the near future."

In 2007, Chilingarov dived to the Arctic Ocean seabed in a mini-submarine and planted a metal Russian flag to symbolically claim it for the Kremlin, a gesture that triggered angry responses from other countries.

International law states the five countries with an Arctic Ocean coastline -- Russia, the United States, Norway, Canada and Denmark via Greenland -- have a 320 km (200 mile) economic zone to the north.

But Russia claims a far larger slice based on its contention that the seabed under the Arctic is a continuation of the Siberian continental shelf.