Russia has submitted a petition to the United Nations for exclusive economic control of hundreds of thousands of miles of the Arctic, including the North Pole.
The approximately 463,000 square miles is ripe for oil drilling, as much of it has become more accessible due to the increased melting of Arctic ice.
Vladimir Putin even authorized a submarine an an explorer to survey the area and plant a Russian flag under the sea at the North Pole.
The exploration mission is key to the issue because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea says that countries can only have exclusive economic zones for 200 miles from its recognized borders.
The only exception is when a country can show that the continental shelf on which it sits actually extends farther than 200 miles--in such cases, the law recognizes a 350-mile limit, reported The Fiscal Times.
Russia tried in 2002 to petition for lots of land in the Arctic, but was rebuffed by the U.N. because the organization said Russia failed to provide sufficient evidence for the exception.
