An audacious Russian mission to claim the North Pole for Moscow is due to reach its climax in the next 24 hours, after a week-long journey through thick ice-sheets. Two Russian vessels - including an atomic icebreaker - are expected to reach the Pole this afternoon. There they will release two mini-submarines which will drop a metal tube containing a Russian flag onto the seabed. The release is likely to take place tonight or tomorrow morning, according to organisers. The gesture, while symbolic, marks an escalation of the growing international dispute over who owns the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,240 mile underwater mountain range that crosses the polar region. It is thought to contain rich oil and gas deposits. Moscow believes the research mission will prove that the ridge is a geological extension of Russia, and can therefore can be claimed by Russia under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Denmark believes that the ridge is in fact an extension of the Danish territory of Greenland. The US and Canada are also anxious to defend their Arctic territory, with both planning billion-pound investments in new patrol ships.
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