WASHINGTON — The United States says Russia’s decision to delineate its southern Arctic boundary appears to be an internal administrative move that will have no standing in international law.

A statement from the office of State Department spokesman Sean McCormack outlined the procedure for defining the extent of a country’s continental shelf under the Law of the Sea Convention.

“Based on information available to us at this point in time, we have no reason to believe the Russians are proposing a different course of action,” the statement said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Russia must mark its Arctic territory to ensure its development and competitiveness in global markets over the long term.

He told his Security Council that quick legislation is necessary to ensure delineation of Russia southern zone in the “strategically important Arctic region.

“Marking of the external border of the continental shelf is a long-term goal,” Medvedev said.

The State Department statement said the United States has no information about any proposed Russian Arctic legislation. Medvedev’s public statements indicated, however, that the effort is to define the Arctic’s boundary within the Russian land mass.

“Arctic nations use different criteria for defining the portions of their territory considered to be part of their Arctic regions,” the statement said. “The definitions are generally for the purpose of internal administration and have no standing in international law.”

It said the Russians are gathering scientific evidence to support their earlier contention that the country’s continental shelf reaches the North Pole. A technical commission under the Law of the Sea Convention will recommend based on scientific criteria the disposition of the submission, the statement said.

“The Russian Federation is within its rights to delineate an extended continental shelf so long as the outer limits are consistent with international law as supported by sound scientific data. Other Arctic nations are in the process of gathering the necessary scientific data to support their own delineations of extended shelf in the Arctic Ocean,” the State Department said.

In May of this year, Russia and the other Arctic countries – Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States – recommitted themselves to an orderly settlement under the convention of any overlapping claims.