Four years ago, Russian researchers made a bold, if unseen, move. From a submarine, deep beneath the icy waters of the North Pole, they planted a Russian flag on the ocean floor..... Russia has the world's longest Arctic border, which stretches more than 10,000 miles...... And for Russia, that 2007 research mission was only the beginning of a major drive to claim ownership of vast portions of the Arctic, as well as the oil and gas deposits that are beneath....... At present, Russia has some islands in the Arctic Ocean. But aside from that, the country's northern border effectively ends...
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/16/139577...tic-as-its-own
