Russia will take technical-military measures in response to the militarization of Greenland, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday (11).
“It is clear that if Greenland is militarized and military capabilities are created there, directed against Russia, we will take appropriate countermeasures, including military-technical ones,” he told Parliament.
Lavrov added that Moscow operates under the premise that the Greenland issue “does not directly concern” Russia.
“The US, Denmark and Greenland must resolve this among themselves, taking into account, of course, the opinion of the residents of the largest island, which the Copenhagen government has treated quite harshly for many years and decades,” he said.
The Russian position, he emphasized, is that “the Arctic must remain a zone of peace and cooperation.”
Senior Russian officials have so far refrained from openly criticizing the potential annexation of Greenland and have even questioned whether the island is part of Denmark, hoping that Washington will recognize Russian territorial gains in Ukraine.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has already spoken out on the matter, considering that the current Donald Trump administration’s plans to “annex” Greenland were not “a crazy idea”, but had “historical roots”.
At the same time, Russia has categorically opposed the militarization of the Arctic island and renewed that position this Wednesday.
Countries mobilize to establish a presence in Greenland
This month, France officially opened its consulate in Nuuk, the first for a European Union (EU) country in Greenland, with the aim of reforming bilateral ties and respecting Denmark’s territorial integrity in the face of US ambitions to take control of the Arctic island.
This Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron, who has maintained some friction with Trump in reaction to the American’s interests in the Arctic island, said that Washington has an “anti-European” stance and should take more measures against the EU in the future.
The Frenchman highlighted that the opening of the legation represents a “political signal” of support for Danish sovereignty and European cooperation in the Arctic.
Canada also opened its first consulate in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, in recent days. The decision came in December 2024 (one month before Trump assumed the presidency), but the ceremony had to be postponed due to bad weather conditions on the scheduled date. The country is also accumulating friction with Trump regarding trade agreements and political differences.
