Kremlin lays claim to chunk of North Pole

Yesterday "Russia signalled its intention ... to annex a vast 460,000 square mile chunk of the frozen and ice-encrusted Arctic."
Now why would they want to do that? In pursuit of their aim to become a hydrocarbons superpower. As the article says; "geologists returned with the "sensational news" that the Lomonosov ridge was linked to Russian Federation territory, boosting Russia's claim over the oil-and-gas rich triangle. The territory contained 10bn tonnes of gas and oil deposits.... The shelf was 200 metres deep and oil and gas would be easy to extract, especially with ice melting because of global warming."
However there is a fly in this ointment, as another Russian scientist pointed out, "Canada could make exactly the same claim. The Canadians could say that the Lomonosov ridge is part of the Canadian shelf, which means Russia should in fact belong to Canada, together with the whole of Eurasia."
It then devolves into a matter of UN administered maritime law and the USA's animosity to the UN may result in Russia getting its way.
Kremlin lays claim to huge chunk of oil-rich North Pole | Russia | Guardian Unlimited: