MOSCOW, April 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is convinced Russian experts have found strong arguments testifying to Russia’s indisputable right to a section of 52,000 square kilometers, whose bottom is the continuation of Russia’s continental shelf.

“Our experts should act energetically when holding bilateral and multilateral consultations with the governments of Arctic states, defend each section of the continental shelf of the Russian part of the Arctic, sea water areas,” Putin emphasized at a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

At the meeting, which is devoted to implementation of Russia’s state policy in the Arctic in the interests of national security, the Russian head of state said the issue of international legal formalization of the external border of Russia’s continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean is urgent and added that it demands thorough and hard work.

Putin recalled that Russia has a successful experience of resolving such tasks. In March, at a session of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, he said, Russia declared its right to part of the Sea of Okhotsk which had earlier been considered open.

“That is, to the section of 52,000 square kilometers whose bottom is a continuation of Russia’s continental shelf,” he said.

Putin said he was convinced Russian experts, who were guided by scientific data, found solid arguments to claim the section. “So the commission’s plenum agreed with our arguments and made relevant recommendations,” he said.

Russian Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoy said March 15 that the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf recognized an enclave of 52,000 square kilometers (20,080 square miles) in the Sea of Okhotsk as part of Russia’s continental shelf.