Russia is poised to launch its biggest Arctic expedition in a decade, aimed at supporting its claim to vast supplies of natural resources, local media reported Wednesday. A group of 50 experts is to collect data in the area over the next three months aboard the scientific research vessel Akademik Fyodorov, which will be accompanied by the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal, dpa reported. The expedition, which media estimate will cost some 6.5 million dollars, is meant to prove that the seabed is a natural extension of the Russian mainland - thus giving Moscow the right to access the Arctic's natural resources. US geologists believe that some 30 per cent of the world's undiscovered natural gas reserves and 13 per cent of undiscovered oil reserves are located in the Arctic, along with gold, silver, iron, coal and zinc. Russia has laid claim to a 1.2-million-square-kilometre tract that includes the North Pole. It has repeatedly indicated that it would pursue its interests in the Arctic with military strength, if needed. In August 2007, it had controversially tried to assert its claim by planting a Russian flag in the seabed of the North Pole - more than 4,000 metres below the surface. For now, Russian scientists are to first continue gathering evidence, the Vremya Novostei newspaper reported. Representatives of the country's Defence Ministry will nevertheless also be on board. The findings are to be used as the basis for a petition before the United Nations that - as Moscow envisions it - will award Russia some of the continental shelf in the Arctic Sea. The relevant documents are to be turned in next year, according to a statement issued by the expedition team headed by scientist Vladimir Sokolov. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had earlier this year criticized "active attempts" by other Arctic neighbours to block Russia's access as "unacceptable and unfair." He also predicted that the fight over access to the polar region would intensify due to the melting of the northern ice cap, spurred by climate change. The countries bordering the Arctic - Denmark, Canada, Norway, Russia and the United States - had pledged in 2008 to find a peaceful solution to the territorial dispute.
