A Russian mini-submarine reached the bottom of the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole on Thursday in a mission to back up Moscow's claims to the region's mineral riches.
"The Mir-1 submarine has successfully reached the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at a depth of 4 261 metres," the Vesti-24 television channel reported from the Akademik Fyodorov research ship leading the expedition.
The dive, which organisers say is the first to reach the ocean floor under the North Pole, aims to establish that a section of seabed passing through the pole, known as the Lomonosov Ridge, is in fact an extension of Russia's landmass.
"We must determine the border. The most northerly border of the Russian shelf," veteran Arctic explorer Artur Chilingarov, who is on board the submarine, said in comments broadcast earlier.
Chilingarov, fellow parliamentarian Vladimir Gruzdev and another crew member will carry out scientific tests and place a titanium Russian flag on the seabed, the Russian institute organizing the mission said in a statement.
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