Russia has been asserting control in the Arctic through a mix of legal claims, symbolic acts, and concrete military and economic moves. These efforts are about securing resources, trade routes, and strategic depth as the region becomes more accessible due to melting sea ice.

Extended seabed claims

Russia has used international law (UNCLOS) to argue that its continental shelf stretches far under the central Arctic Ocean, including toward the North Pole. By basing its case on undersea features like the Lomonosov and Mendeleev Ridges, Moscow seeks sovereign rights to vast areas of seabed that may hold oil, gas, and minerals.

  • Russia first filed an extended continental shelf claim in 2001, then resubmitted expanded claims in 2015 and again with addenda in 2021 to cover about 1.2–1.7 million square kilometers of seabed, overlapping with Canadian and Danish claims.
  • These legal filings are a territorial strategy: if approved, they give Russia exclusive resource rights over much of the central Arctic Ocean floor.

Symbolic flag planting at the North Pole

In 2007, Russia staged a high‑profile expedition in which mini‑submarines descended beneath the ice at the geographic North Pole and planted a titanium Russian flag on the seabed. While the act had no legal force under international law, it was widely interpreted as a bold signal of Russia’s intent to claim leadership and presence in the Arctic.

  • The operation dramatized Russia’s narrative that the central Arctic is a natural extension of its continental shelf and national sphere of interest.
  • The flag‑planting became a potent symbol in global media and diplomatic debates about who will “own” the Arctic as ice retreats.

Militarization and control of the Northern Sea Route

Russia has also exerted territoriality through hard infrastructure and military deployments along its Arctic coastline, especially around the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The NSR is a shipping corridor along Russia’s northern coast that could rival traditional routes like the Suez Canal as Arctic ice diminishes.

  • Moscow has reopened and modernized Soviet‑era bases, built new airfields and radar sites, and stationed advanced weaponry in the Arctic, giving it strong control over key sea lanes and airspace.
  • Russia increasingly treats the NSR as a national transport artery, imposing regulations and escort requirements on foreign vessels, effectively projecting territorial control over a route that others see as an international waterway.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.