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Russia expects UN to give positive reply to its Arctic bid - minister of natural resources

"According to preliminary estimates, the continental shelf harbors 5 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons," Sergey Donskoi said

MOSCOW, February 10 /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MinPrirody) is waiting for a positive U.N. response to Russia’s bid for the Arctic Continental Shelf, the ministry’s head Sergey Donskoi said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Tuesday.

"This year, we have submitted an adjusted bid in which we proved the continental nature of the Lomonosov Ridge, the Mendeleyev Elevation, the Chukchi high plain… We have prepared rationalizing materials, which prove the continental nature of these geographical objects… The bid is the quintessence of the work, which has been done over the past 13 years in Russia and abroad," Donskoi said adding that Russia was not the only country, which has laid claims on the continental shelf.

"Other countries have also submitted their bids and materials. For example, Denmark spreads its jurisdiction and the external border to the territories, which we claim," the Russian minister of natural resources and environment said.

Russia has serious grounds to assume that a response to its bid will be positive. "The materials we have presented have sufficient volumes of additional data, which we obtained during expeditions and research…They give us more grounds to expect a positive response to our bid," the minister emphasized.

According to him, the shelf is rich in mineral resources. "According to preliminary estimates, the continental shelf harbors 5 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons," Donskoi said.