2007-08-08 17:38:53
BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States and Canada have ridiculed the Russian submarine expedition that planted a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole, but the famous polar scientist who led the effort responded with blunt words after returning Tuesday.

"I don't give a dam.n what all these foreign politicians there are saying about this," Artur Chilingarov told a throng of well-wishers. "If someone doesn't like this, let them go down themselves ... and then try to put something there. Russia must win. Russia has what it takes to win. The Arctic has always been Russian."

Thursday's dive by two small submarines was partly a scientific expedition. But it could prompt a fierce legal battle for control of the seabed among nations that border the Arctic, including Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark, through its territory Greenland.

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Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma,"Hero of Russia," explorer, oceanographer and engineer Artur Chilingarov posing for picture after his historic mission to the bottom of the North Pole in the Arctic ocean.



Russian explorers have planted their country's flag on the seabed 4,200m (14,000ft) below the North Pole to further Moscow's claims to the Arctic.
The rust-proof titanium metal flag was brought by explorers travelling in two mini-submarines, in what is believed to be the first expedition of its kind.
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