"We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf." --- i don't see anything weird in this.
Exorcist seeker, you see... USA for example have different means of reaching to OIL and GAS... is by killing innocent people and destroying lifes of millions of people, screwing up whole coutries for their own benefit of easy access to huge reserves of OIL.
Russia in this case is doing a peaceful "occupation" of international waters where countries dont even have means of accessing those areas...