On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry unveiled that Russia has resubmitted a bid for territories in the Arctic to the United Nations. In the revised bid, Russia has claimed around 463,000 square miles of Arctic sea shelf.

Many nations including Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark, and Norway are trying to have a control over the parts of Arctic, which as per experts is believed to have up to a quarter of earth’s unexplored oil and gas.

With passage of time, competition and rivalry with regard to these parts is increased as reduced polar ice has opened up more new opportunities for exploration. Out of all, Russia was the first one to announce its claim in 2002, but the UN sent it back stating that it did not have proper evidence.

In 2013, Russia again submitted a partial revision regarding the Okhotsk Sea and the following year, the commission issued a recommendation, stated UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. As per the new submission, there is ample of new data having years of Arctic research.

Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, said that he is quite surprised by the behavior of Russia. It has been following the rules and made a restrained submission.

The Russian foreign ministry affirmed that it has been claimed around 1.2 million square kilometres of the Arctic sea shelf that extends over 650 kilometres from the shore.