Moscow rejects Trump claim of Russian plan to 'control' Greenland
Trump claims the US must occupy Greenland, otherwise Russia and China will
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on 15 January that Russia and China have no ambitions to control Greenland, denying Washington's claims about threats to the island from Moscow and Beijing.
“Neither Russia nor China has announced any claims to Greenland or any such plans, and there is no factual information that supports this accusation in any way,” Zakharova stated during a press briefing on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump has said the US must seize control of Greenland, claimingthat “there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and, bigger, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We're not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that's what they're going to do if we don't.”
However, Zakharova stressed on Thursday that Moscow and Beijing are “focused on developing and growing relations with this region of the world,” not on controlling it.
She noted that any disputes over Greenland “must be resolved through negotiation, in accordance with international law, taking into account the interests of the island's inhabitants and their right to self-government.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also rejected Trump's claim on Thursday.
“It is not a true narrative that we have Chinese warships all around the place,” Lokke Rasmussen stated. “According to our intelligence, we haven't had a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade or so.”
On Wednesday, Trump repeated his calls for US control of the strategic island, saying that anything less than Greenland becoming a part of the United States “is unacceptable.”
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump said on the Truth Social site.
“NATO should be leading the way for us to get it,” he claimed. “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Greenland lies within the so-called GIUK gap, a maritime passage between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK that connects the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean.
“This location makes it essential for controlling access to the North Atlantic, for both trade and security,” according to CNN.
The Russian spokesperson added Thursday that the growing tension in the Arctic region is a direct consequence of the actions of NATO “as a bloc as a whole and individual member states.”
Moscow agrees with Beijing's position on the “unacceptability of references to certain activities” in Greenland against China and Russia, she added.