Iceland's president has called for an end to 'Cold War' tensions over the Arctic, as nations with competing claims to the region meet in Moscow.
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson urged countries to engage in dialogue and not 'discuss territorial claims against each other'.
'The Cold War times, when the Arctic was a region of tension, have passed,' he added.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the two-day Arctic Forum, which opened in Moscow today.
Delegates from Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US are at odds over how to divide up the Arctic seabed.
It is thought to hold 90bn barrels of oil and 30% of the world's untapped gas resources, according to the US Geological Survey.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is due to speak at the forum tomorrow.
President Grímsson was due to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for talks at his Gorki residence outside Moscow afternoon.
The five Arctic nations are racing to gather evidence to support their claims amid recent reports by US researchers who warn that global warming could open up the region, leaving it ice-free by 2030.
Russia alarmed its Arctic neighbours when it planted a flag on the ocean floor under the North Pole in 2007, in a symbolic staking of its claim over the region.
