Taken Question
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 18, 2008
Question taken at Dialy Briefing of Sept 18, 2008.
Russian Claims to Arctic Territory (Taken Question)Question: What is our reaction to the Russian government’s attempts to mark the northern Russian border to claim its share of the Arctic territory?
Answer: We have no information about proposed Russian domestic legislation concerning the Arctic. Our understanding from Russian President Medvedev’s public remarks is that he called for a law delineating the definition of Russia’s southern Arctic boundary, i.e. its boundary within the Russian land mass. This would be a purely internal matter. There is no universal definition of what constitutes the Arctic. Arctic nations use different criteria for defining the portions of their territory considered to be part of their Arctic regions. These definitions are generally for the purpose of internal administration and have no standing in international law.
According to President Medvedev’s remarks, after Russia has defined its southern Arctic boundary, it would then seek to define its continental shelf beyond 200 nm from its coastline. The Russians have been gathering scientific evidence in support of their submission under the Law of the Sea Convention asserting that their continental shelf extends to the North Pole. The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the technical body under the Law of the Sea Convention that addresses the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, will ultimately make a recommendation based on scientific criteria concerning any forthcoming Russian submission. Based on information available to us at this point in time, we have no reason to believe the Russians are proposing a different course of action.
The Russian Federation is within its rights to delineate an extended continental shelf, so long as the outer limits are consistent with international law, as supported by sound scientific data. Other Arctic nations are in the process of gathering the necessary scientific data to support their own delineations of extended shelf in the Arctic Ocean. In May 2008, by means of the Ilulissat Declaration, the five Arctic Ocean coastal states unanimously re-stated their commitment to the legal framework in place under the Law of the Sea convention in the Arctic and to the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims.
2008/741
Released on September 18, 2008
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