"The Arctic is Russian," expedition leader and parliamentary deputy Artur Chilingarov told Russian television.

"We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole."

A nuclear-powered icebreaker will smash through the weakened Arctic ice, leading the way for the main expedition ship which will launch the submarine.

One of their biggest worries is resurfacing at the same hole in the ice they dived down into -- missing it could mean becoming trapped as the mini-submarine is not powerful enough to break through the ice.

International law states the five countries with territory inside the Arctic Circle -- Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark via its control of Greenland -- are limited to a 200 mile (320 km) economic zone around their coastline.

NATIONAL PRIDE

But Since 2001, Russia has claimed a larger slice extending as far as the North Pole because, Moscow says, the Arctic seabed and Siberia are linked via the same continental shelf.

The three-man Russian submarine team say they plan to carry out scientific research.

But national pride is the driving force behind the expedition, Anatoly Sagalevich, submarine designer and team member, told the Izvestia newspaper.

"I think we will be the first submariners to travel along the ocean floor under the North Pole, we will raise Russia's prestige," he said. "People have flown to the moon but nobody has yet been to the crown of the Earth."

The first submarine to travel under the North Pole was the US nuclear submarine the USS Nautilus in 1958 but it did not stop on the sea floor.

Sagalevich said a similar Russian mission planned for 1998 had had to be ditched when Russian financial markets crashed.

Now though, with revenues from oil, gas and metals swelling Russia's coffers it has the confidence and cash to fund the expedition.

"We will be the first to see the seabed under the North Pole and we will plant a Russian flag made from titanium," said Sagalevich.