The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is planning to defend its request for expanding the national Arctic shelf sector that it submitted to the UN Continental Shelf Commission, Minister Sergei Donskoi told NTV television channel.

"I know that some experts of the UN commission are already skeptical about our materials. Our task is to provide evidence. We already have well-prepared materials that are easy to work with, and that  can be proved. We'll be proactive," he stressed.

In early August, Russia submitted a request for the expansion of its Arctic continental shelf sector, that is, by including the Lomonosov Ridge and other continental formations. Earlier, Russia had already submitted a similar request that was turned down for lack of information. To prepare a new request, experts conducted large-scale geological / geophysical research in the Arctic Ocean. They studied the geological composition of the Mendeleyev and Lomonosov ridges, took bathymetric images and conducted essential seismological research.

The new request includes underwater territories with a total area of about 1.2 million square meters and an estimated five billion metric tons of hydrocarbons. The UN commission's members will examine the request on February 9.