OK-so first of all, I have to point out that nobody in Russia claimed that the flag in and of itself constitutes a valid claim to possession. Peter from LA- you are mistaken about Russia's lack of a legal claim- countries CAN claim certain exclusive rights (resource extraction from the sea bed, but not fishing, which remains open to all ) beyond the 200-mile EEZ, provided they can prove that the ocean bed beyond the EEZ is the same as ther continental shelf. That is what this expedition was for.

Simeon, Milan,

To Scott, Durham, NC, USA
"Old "Squirrel Head" Putin": Please don't get me started on your monkey-face, total-looser president Bush. At least Russia and Putin have enough brains to use UN to justify the claim in the Arctic. US did not even ratify the UN Naval treaty and always treats UN with utter contempt. So your Arctic boat has sailed without you and all you can is go around and questioning Putin's intellect. Well buddy, start with your "red-neck" Bush first!

Oleg, Toronto, Canada

To Scott, Durham, NC, USA

It's OK to express your views, whether friendly or hostile, but it's arrogant and impolite to call Putin 'names', just as it would be in relation to any other president including Yours. Are you sure you can distinguish between logic and your personal attitude? To me, the weaker the arguments, the stronger the words. This is very true.

Daniel, Moscow, Russia

phixod, delft, Netherlands said:
"Makr your headlines right....its not the world which condemned but only countries around the Artic did. Max to max, the western world will condemn but thats not all world"

Yeah, but it's pretty much most of it.

Doug, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

The North Pole has always been Danish.

Carsten, Odense, Denmark

Now Putin is just sounding plain silly. Certainly this is not a claim anyone is going to recognize, but the possibiliby that Russia may try to defend it militarily has serious implications and consequences.

Old "Squirrel Head" Putin wants to return Russia to the glorious days of the cold war where a sortie of Backfire bombers and movements of the Soviet naval fleet caused the West to sit up and take notice. It hardly happens anymore.

Putin obviously recognized the weakness of the former Soviet Union was economic and that it had cost them the Cold War. I guess he's adamant that the next war will not be lost by a lack of cash and reliance upon a pitiful economic system. Capitalism and oil will guarantee a level playing field while an authoritarian government will replace the communist model. This then is a much improved FSU, and it sounds more like an emergence from bankruptcy as a stronger entity, not a capitulation. We had better get hold of the rest of their nuclear material!

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

Over the past several days the Russian Arctic expedition has been covered extensively by every major news agency and newspaper in the world. The Times alone published at least half-a-dozen articles on the subject. So these lame attempts on the part of the US and Canadian officials to ridicule Russia just confirm that they are unprepared and nervous. What makes them nervous is not that Russia made a territorial claim, but the fact that Russia can back its claim up using not just science but, once again, its military power. And it all boils down not to science or UN diplomacy, but to subs, planes, and missiles. Not quite back at the Soviet level yet, but Russia has plenty of those.

Veniamin Nikolayev, Philadelphia, US

Scientific research in Arctic Russia is going to prove it's claims, fully corresponds to international law, and pretty much following legal process required by a designated committee of United Nations starting from 2003.
The flag marked place on Earth human never reached before.
What United States and it's colonial allies done is Iraq is a crime against humanity, an act of aggression and colonial fascism. Russia is calling every side to obey an international law and whatever UN will decide we will live up to, and probably it is irrelevant at that point to what is said on congressional hearings in Washington.
I think it will be more productive if Western Countries and Russia join efforts to create energy-effective electrical vehicles, safe nuclear energy plants and we stop destroying our planet by digging and burning oil, finally.

Dmitry Mironov, Moscow,

As for Peter from the USA of course he would not object if it was US company trying to do the same. I think western strategy to controle everything on the Earth is the straight road to the third World War. I think all the events proove that the World is going there. And there will be nobody whom we can tell the tales about democracy and rule of law.

Temuujin, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Makr your headlines right....its not the world which condemned but only countries around the Artic did. Max to max, the western world will condemn but thats not all world

phixod, delft, Netherlands

Russia already owns the largest continental shelf in the world within it's 200 mille EEZ. This area is full of oil and gas and virtually unexplored. Thus Russia has no moral or legal right to claim any more area for itself. Its just being absurdly greedy and trying to lock up the world's resoures for extortion purposes. The Arctic Abyssal area beyond 200 nm is nothing to do with Russia's continental shelf whatsoever. the ridges in the abyssal are remnants of spreading volcanic seafloor ridges and distinct geological features, not continental shelfs. The oil and gas of the arctic was claimed over a year ago by United Oil and Gas Consortium Management Corp., a Nevada company. See www.unoilgas.com . This company's claim is the sole cause for all the massive activity in the arctic today. The largest oil and gas sedimentary basin is safely beyond the reach of any spurious Russian claim anyway, so the last laugh will be on them.

Peter Sterling, Los Angeles, California USA