Russian efforts to control the Northern Sea Route and to secure exclusive access to the local seabed, from which it hopes to pump oil and natural gas as well as mine coal and other minerals for export, have been attracting increasing attention for years (see EDM, September 3, 2019, October 20, 2020, November 9, 2020).
https://jamestown.org/program/new-undersea-cables-could-become-a-flashpoint-in-the-arctic/