The dispute over Wrangel Island between Russia, Great Britain, its dominion Canada and the United States was provoked by Canadian polar explorer W. Sephansson. Since 1919 he sought from the Canadian government to send an expedition to the island for its occupation. In 1921 the Canadian government refused to send a new expedition to the Arctic. Then Stefansson organized his private expedition to the island and landed his people on it, hoping that later the Canadian government would formally support his expedition and thus claim the island. The Canadian government, however, feared that its claims to this remote island would undermine its rights to the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, which were much closer to Canada. In March 1922 Stefansson publicly announced that his people on Wrangel Island should guarantee the rights of Great Britain to this island. From this moment on, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States joined the dispute over this island. Through numerous notes Russia reminded Britain that the island is Russian and also emphasized its readiness to take any action, including by force, to counter its capture by other countries. It is extremely important that the United States opposed the possible claims of Great Britain to Wrangel Island and considered the preservation of this island as part of Russia as a lesser threat than the capture of this island by Great Britain or Japan. As a result in 1924 Great Britain along with Canada abandoned further claims to this island. Soon after the dispute over Wrangel Island was finished, Canada and Russia established the Arctic sectors to indicate their possessions in the region.