Putin Ally Links Greenland Threats To Russia’s Ukraine Gains

Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov has just compared Donald Trump’s bid to control Greenland to Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

Since seizing Venezuela and capturing its leader, the US president seems intent on taking full “control” of the semi-autonomous Arctic island of Greenland.

Trump appears unbothered that the land is part of the kingdom of Denmark – and therefore also part of Nato – or that Greenlanders themselves have said they do not want to become part of America.

The president claims Denmark is not protecting Greenland from potential China and Russia threats, so an American takeover is needed to protect “world peace”.

He has also not ruled out using military force to take the world’s largest island.

And, worryingly, Moscow seems rather thrilled at the chaos, especially as the president is putting Nato under strain.

In his annual press conference, Lavrov told reporters: “In Greenland there was no coup, but as President Trump said, this territory is important to the US.

“As Crimea is equally important for the security of Russia.”

Crimea is a Ukrainian peninsula which Russia illegally seized in 2014.

Many Ukrainians perceive that capture of Crimea as the real start of Russia’s ongoing invasion, and that the lack of western retaliation to that annexation emboldened Putin to invade mainland Ukraine in February 2022.

In an apparent endorsement of Trump’s aggression, Lavrov also claimed: “Greenland is not a natural part of Denmark.”

However, he added that Russia has no plans to get involved in the dispute – despite Trump’s claims that Moscow has its eyes on the territory.

“Nato is going through a period of challenges, and Russia is not interested in interfering in Greenland,” Putin’s top diplomat said.

“It was neither a natural part of Norway nor a natural part of Denmark. It is a colonial conquest. The fact that the inhabitants are now accustomed to it and feel comfortable is another matter.”

Trump’s tantrums have put a major strain on Nato – something the Kremlin has been trying to do for decades – which in turn weakens the defence alliance’s united approach to Ukraine.

Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev already welcomed the “collapse of the transatlantic union” this week, while former president Dmitri Medvedev suggested Europe is getting poorer.

He wrote on social media: “Make America Great Again (MAGA) = Make Denmark Small Again (MDSA) = Make Europe Poor Again (MEPA). Has this idea finally sunk in, dimwits?”

Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said: “There are international experts who believe that by resolving the issue of Greenland’s incorporation, Trump will certainly go down in history. And not only in the history of the United States, but also in world history. It’s hard not to agree with these experts.”

Trump has even threatened to slap tariffs on imports from European allies who have so far opposed the idea of an American takeover.

EU leaders will meet to discuss how to respond at an emergency summit on Thursday, although the UK’s Keir Starmer has insisted Britain will not be looking at retaliatory tariffs and that he does not want to start a trade war.

Though Trump is putting 80 years of international diplomacy in jeopardy with his Greenland warnings, allies are nervous to draw too many red lines because his co-operation is needed for security guarantees with the Ukraine war.

The president himself has been pushing for a peace deal to end the Ukraine war – even if it means giving Putin even more of Ukraine’s sovereign land.