In the midst of a climate of diplomatic tension, the Argentine Foreign Ministry will now ask Russia for a formal explanation for Moscow's discovery of a deposit in Antarctica that was considered "the oil discovery of the century" since it contains reserves of about 511,000 million. of barrels of crude oil or the equivalent of 30 Dead Cows or twice the oil of Saudi Arabia.
Russia's oil discovery in Antarctica began in 2020 and was only now revealed in a debate in the British Parliament since the discovery is located in an area where exploitation is prohibited.
Not only this: there are doubts in the diplomatic environment about possible environmental alterations and the diplomatic conflict that this generates since it is the Antarctic area disputed by Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom.
Request for explanations
As confirmed to El Cronista by qualified Government sources, Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and the Secretary of Malvinas and Antarctic Affairs, Paola Di Chiaro, requested an informal explanation on Monday through the Argentine ambassador to Russia, Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieyra. But the response was so vague and brief that now Javier Milei's administration will demand a detailed formal explanation.
"We must know with certainty if the discovery that Russia made in Antarctica was for strictly scientific purposes or if there was prohibited exploration in the area that has great economic potential," they told El Cronista de Casa Rosada.
Yesterday, President Milei closely followed this delicate issue since he maintains strong ideological differences with Vladimir Putin's Russia. The president harshly questioned Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and defended the Zelensky government.
Argentina's interest in knowing the "substantiated details" of a possible scientific exploration is not a diplomatic whim. Antarctica is protected by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and is defined as a continent dedicated to peace and science, so any type of oil exploitation is prohibited.
On the other hand, the Argentine government reported that next week, when the summit of countries to debate the future of the Antarctic Treaty takes place in India, it gave precise instructions to the Antarctica director of the Foreign Ministry to put this debate on the table.
Yesterday, the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires refused to provide information regarding this thorny issue. "We are not going to make any comments because we do not have the necessary information," said the embassy spokesperson when asked by El Cronista .
