US calls Russia's 'land claims' in Arctic 'outrageous'

Russia is very actively exploiting the Arctic and extracting natural resources from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, said Diane Francis, a freelance senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center, in an article published by The Hill, Report informs.

Diane Francis wrote that over the 20 years of the Arctic Council’s existence, “Moscow has made outrageous land claims and embarked on aggressive oil exploration in the region, encroaching regularly on territory owned by Canada and others.”

She noted that the contest underway at the top of the world is about hegemony over trade as well as resources. She added that Russia’s “Arctic Silk Road,” called the Northern Sea Route, is designed to provide a shipping link between Europe and Asia, allowing ships to bypass the Suez and Panama Canals.

According to Francis, the frozen Arctic Ocean, half the size of the United States, had been mostly ignored Washington, but Russia has militarized the region.