VLADIMIR KHOMYAKOV05 APR 2021 16:10

IT BEGAN: RUSSIA'S BORDERS ARE MOVING APART. NATO IS POWERLESS

Why are continental shelves so seriously important? The fact is that almost a quarter of Russian oil is produced on the shelves of karsky, Pechorsky, Okhotsk and East Siberian seas in the east of the country. Three-quarters of the free gas reserves are concentrated there. This is despite the fact that the degree of exploration of Russia's seas by oil is 3.7%, and on gas - 7.5%. altogether!

Oh, this Arctic...

Where exactly the borders of the Arctic zone begin - there is no agreement until now. The simplest, it would seem, is to consider it the border of the 66th parallel (Northern Arctic Circle). But then it turns out that quite imagined "Arctic" on the climate, but located to the south most of Chukotka, two-thirds of Alaska, southern Greenland do not belong to the Arctic. In the 1950s, the southern border of the Arctic was proposed to be considered the 60th parallel. But then it turned out that on this parallel are not polar cities, such as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Bergen.

The Arctic is not only a "weather kitchen" in cooperation with subtropical air flows forming the entire climate of temperate latitudes. In addition to oil and gas, huge reserves of black, non-ferrous, rare, rare earth and precious metals are concentrated here. In the mountains of the polar region there is copper, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, chromium - and in general almost the entire table mendeleev. And the Arctic shelf is nothing but a part of the very continent, because of some geological processes caught under water. Hence the reasonable opinion to consider it as a "spare pantry" of mankind at the time when everything will be explored and mined on land. Hence the understandable desire of a number of countries to own this still virtually untouched "warehouse".

It is not known how many useful resources there are in the Arctic. But American geologists believe that on the shelf and in the terrestrial fields behind the Arctic Circle only oil (more precisely, accepted oil equivalent) there are about 400 billion barrels, which is 20% of the world's technically recoverable reserves. At the same time, these resources are unevenly distributed: if the coast of Alaska has more oil (the U.S. is the leader in the world production of Arctic oil), the vast majority of Arctic natural gas reserves are in the Russian zone.

Of course, the "technical recovery" of stocks does not mean that it is commercially profitable to mine them. At least today. If the soils of the seabed are weak, and the seismicity of the area is high, the cost may be such that it will be simply unprofitable to mine it. That is why coastal deposits in the Arctic zone (for example, on the same Yamal peninsula) are now considered a much more reliable business. But it's today. And what will happen tomorrow when the available land-based reserves are exhausted? It is obvious that the leaders will be the countries thinking about this inevitable future today. And having the opportunity to realize this future.

It is no coincidence that even such "warm" countries as India, China, Japan, Korea and Singapore should participate in the "Arctic Pie" section, even as subcontractors. At the same time, along with Russia, "additional" areas of the Arctic Ocean are claimed by other countries. In addition to our country in the Arctic, the Borders, continental shelves, exclusive economic zones have also the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland.

The Siberian shelf in the Arctic Ocean is the largest and least studied of all under the jurisdiction of Russia: 5 million sq km is 20% of the shelf area of the world's oceans. Today, Russia has only one Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea, opened in 1989 and estimated at 70 million recoverable oil reserves. However, the proposed deposits of oil, gas and other minerals make this area adjacent to our northern shores strategically important and very promising, for which it is very worth fighting for.

Battle of the Shelf

The Arctic Ocean is the youngest on the planet and has the largest shelf area, and 40% of its area has a depth of only 200 m. Apparently, in the past the ocean level was much lower than in our time, and many coastal areas of the bottom were part of the mainland.

As for the legality of the minerals of the Arctic shelf, it is defined, as already stated, by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the 76th article of which states that

The continental shelf of the coastal state includes the seabed and subsoil, extending beyond its territorial waters throughout the natural continuation of its land territory to the outer boundary of the underwater edge of the mainland.

This fact should be proved to the applicants for the shelf with the help of a number of scientific research.

As recently as December 20, 2001, Russia submitted to the relevant UN commission a submission on expanding the external boundaries of its continental shelf beyond the 200-mile zone within the Arctic sector adjacent to our northern borders. The application was accepted, but in 2002 it was "wrapped up" by asking Russia to provide additional scientific evidence to support its claims.

From the withdrawal of the first application, Russia made the relevant conclusions, and in September 2007, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, having conducted the relevant research, issued a statement that

the structure of the Lomonosov ridge bark corresponds to the world analogues of the continental crust, which means that it is part of the adjacent continental shelf of the Russian Federation.

In 2014, the UN Commission granted Russia's request to include 52,000 sq km in its continental shelf in the center of the Sea of Okhotsk. And in August 2015, after conducting appropriate geological surveys, Russia sent to the UN a second request to expand the boundaries of the continental shelf at the expense of the Lomonosov Ridge, the southern tip of the Gakkel Ridge, the North Pole zone and other parts of the Arctic Ocean. And in 2019, the UN subcommittee finally recognized the ownership of this part of the Arctic territory with a total area of 1.2 million square kilometers to the continental shelf of Russia.

Of course, russia's new application today does not mean victory in the fight for the shelf, even if our arguments are heard. The UN Commission does not pursue maritime borders. It only makes a recommendation to hold negotiations with neighboring countries, which are also concerned with this issue. And these negotiations, you know, can drag on for a very long time.

Moreover, russian claims and activity in the Arctic are very dissatisfied with Russian claims and activity in the West. In particular, the United States, which is known to talk about "fairness" and "international use" of all their non-owned. At the same time, they prefer not to remember, for example, June 1990, when Gorbachev's Foreign Minister Shevardnadze in talks with his American counterpart Baker, like drew on the map a pencil "line of demarcation" on which the U.S. in the Bering Sea departed:

• part of the exclusive economic zone of the USSR(23.7 thousand sq km);
• a section of the continental shelf in the open central part of the Bering Sea(46.3 thousand sq km)outside the 200-mile zone.

Russia, on the other hand, received only 4.6 thousand square kilometers of shelf as a result of this "equal" agreement. And what, the U.S. Congress was outraged by such blatant appropriation of foreign territories? not at all! As early as September 18, 1990, the agreement was ratified by them. However, the Russian parliament has not ratified it so far, which does not prevent the U.S. quietly own stolen.

Not oil unified...

Oil is oil, but let's not forget that we are talking about a strategic Northern Sea Route, which is becoming increasingly important due to global warming and melting ice. How can we not remember the recent three-day blockage of the Suez Canal by the huge container ship Ever Given. Even if we do not take into account the absurd version of intentional sabotage, the overlap of this important transport artery cost the world trade $9.6 billion a day! The way, for example, from England to Korea through Suez - 23 thousand km, and on the Northern Sea Route - only 14 thousand km. Yes, navigation there is not year-round. But due to warming instead of July in 2020, it began at the end of May, and ended not in November, but at the end of January next year, 2021.

The political factor should also not be discounted. Traditional sea routes through the Suez and Panama Canals pass through waters controlled by the U.S. Navy, which means that if relations with the same leader China escalate, they can easily be blocked off for the relevant vessels much more reliable than any container ship.

Needless to say, our Western "sworn friends" have repeatedly stated that the Northern Sea Route should be a "global asset". That's how they say, "My is mine, and yours is common." How can we not remember the famous phrase Madeleine Albright:"Where is justice, if such a land as Siberia, owns only one country?" Our Arctic military grouping, icebreaker fleet and submarines, popping up, breaking Arctic ice, are the best proof of that.

Where the Russian flag is raised...

On August 2, 2007, our researchers plunged on a deep-sea craft to the bottom under the North Pole and with the help of a manipulator installed at a depth of 4,261 meters the Russian flag of titanium, which is not corrosive. This was done in the order of symbolic support for Russia's claims to the shelf in 2001.

Of course, in the West the gesture was appreciated and reacted violently to it. Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said:

I don't know what they left on the bottom of the ocean - a metal flag, a rubber flag, a sheet... In any case, it will have no legal value or effect for their claims.

Something similar, but in less boorish terms said and Canadian Defense Minister Peter McKay. In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that

that's what all the discoverers did. When the researchers reach a point that is not explored by anyone, they leave the flags.

And with his characteristic irony hinted:"So it was on the moon, by the way."

To me, so could still quote the Russian Emperor Nicholas the First:

Where the Russian flag is raised once, it should not fall.

It was said in response to the hysteria of the British and their lobbyists among the Russian elites about the founding of the Russian captain Gennady Nevelsky Nikolaevska-on-Amur and the proclamation of the extreme Far Eastern lands of the territory of Russia. After that, the King, instead of snuggled Nevelsky into sailors, as demanded by the Anglophiles from the government, called his act"youthful, noble and patriotic" and awarded the Order of St. Vladimir the 4th degree.

The result is known: Nikolaevsk-on-Amur is still standing today, and the Far East is ours. I think there should be about the same approaches to the shelf today. As for foreign claims, here - as in a famous anecdote: "Eat something he will eat, but who will give it?!"