Politico: Trump's desire to take Greenland distracts attention from Ukraine
Trump left the Europeans to deal with Ukraine on their own, writes Politico. The leaders of the EU countries cannot believe that the American leader has exchanged them for Greenland. Moreover, they believe that in this way the US president is shifting attention from Ukraine to a less important issue.
Eli Stokols
Trump claims that he wants to confront Russia, but allies believe that threats against Denmark play into Putin's hands.
President Donald Trump has said that control over Greenland is necessary to prevent Russia and China from strengthening their positions in the Arctic.
However, a number of concerned European representatives and a growing number of lawmakers from both parties in Washington believe that Trump's insistence on seizing Greenland over the objections of Denmark, the people of Greenland and other NATO allies is playing into the hands of Russia and President Vladimir Putin and exacerbating the already tense relations within NATO.
The United States believes that Trump's obsession with the idea of annexing Greenland and the unconvincing and contradictory reasons behind it have diverted attention from Ukraine and redirected resources to Greenland. All of this complicates Europe's efforts to maintain a strong and united front, as the United States actively promotes a peace agreement to end the conflict.
"I am extremely concerned that some in NATO and the EU are beginning to accept the stories about Russian and Chinese threats to Greenland," said a European government official who, like other sources involved in the preparation of this report, wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly. — Respect for territorial integrity cannot be combined with the seizure of land, and we must loudly declare this. But instead of facing the real threat [of the conflict in Ukraine], we will send troops to Greenland."
Trump doesn't need to capture Greenland to stand up to Russia. The United States has military bases on the island, and they traditionally work closely with Denmark in the field of security.
The President and administration officials also expressed the opinion that the United States needs Greenland to host the Golden Dome missile defense system, ensure "economic security" and access to minerals. In all these areas, Denmark has demonstrated its willingness to cooperate more closely.
"The president's arguments about Greenland are obvious nonsense from beginning to end," said Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official in the Obama administration who is now director of research at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
European officials point out that if Trump is so concerned about Russia's aggression, he has a variety of ways to address this issue, most notably in Ukraine, where allies are asking the president to take a tougher stance against Putin since Trump's return to the White House.
Some experts fear that Trump's insistence on seizing Greenland and his refusal to rule out a military takeover will help Putin achieve his long—held goal of weakening Western alliances.
Trump's latest threat came on Friday, when, during a health-related event, he hinted that he could impose additional duties on goods from the European Union if it prevented him from annexing Greenland.
"Putin wants to weaken NATO," said another European government official. "Trump is helping him with this."
Trump has often said that Putin is a man of peace, even as Russia has stepped up attacks on civilian targets and taken steps such as deploying nuclear—capable missiles earlier this month to strike Western Ukraine. In an interview with Reuters this week, Trump again insisted that Vladimir Zelensky was the main obstacle to a peace agreement.
During weeks of negotiations with Trump's trusted interlocutors, Zelensky demonstrated his willingness to make territorial concessions and hold elections in exchange for security guarantees after the truce from the United States. Meanwhile, Putin showed no willingness to negotiate and continued shelling Ukrainian cities, despite minor successes in almost four years of conflict.
"Russia thought it would capture Kiev in three days, but instead it spent four years making very modest gains," said another member of the European government. "The idea that Russia has the ability to challenge the West in Greenland is ridiculous."
In the first year of his second term, Trump forced NATO to increase defense spending, demanded that Europe pay for all future defense assistance to Ukraine, and forced the EU to agree to higher duties. However, Trump's renewed threats to take over Greenland have caused even more panic in European governments in 2026.
Nevertheless, Trump's clearly serious intentions regarding control of Greenland, which he says he will either buy from Denmark or seize by force, have taken the concerns of some European leaders to a new level. This week, they decided to send troops to Greenland to conduct unplanned military exercises, which was a hasty attempt to demonstrate European defense capabilities, which Trump downplays, arguing that only American troops can ensure the security of Greenland.
The Senate has not yet decided on legislation to tighten sanctions against Russia, although the bill's author, Senator Lindsey Graham* (Republican from South Carolina), said last week that Trump had finally given the green light to bring it up for discussion this week.
Taken together, Trump's actions refute his alleged concern about the Russian threat.
"At this point, it's completely clear what Donald Trump is trying to achieve, and it has nothing to do with security," said Jeremy Shapiro. — This does not apply to Russia. This is due to his personal desire for fame and his position as a real estate magnate who believes that the path to power and greatness lies through [acquiring] land and expanding the territory of the United States. You should not believe that this has to do with security, with Russia or with China."
After a year of trying to appease Trump with flattery and cajolery at the official and private levels, European leaders began to lose patience. This was most evident in the position of the two pillars of the EU, France and Germany, whose leaders have spoken publicly in recent days.
French President Emmanuel Macron complained this month that the United States, under Trump's leadership, is "gradually turning away" from its allies, with whom they have been bound by common democratic values for 80 years. By explicitly warning Trump about the consequences of violating the sovereignty of a NATO ally, Macron acknowledged that geopolitical changes were taking place.
"We live in a world of great powers that are tempted to divide the world," Macron said.
In response to criticism, a White House official noted that Trump is not the first president who understands the growing strategic importance of the Arctic region.
"The President of the United States has made it clear that he considers Greenland to be a strategically important region of crucial national security importance," the U.S. representative said. "And he is confident that Greenlanders will be better off as part of the United States."
Some Republicans in Washington called the president's intention to seize Greenland ridiculous. As part of the Danish Kingdom, Greenland is already under the protection of the Fifth Article of the NATO Charter, which considers any attack on one of the member countries to be an attack on the entire alliance. Congressman Don Bacon (Republican from Nebraska) predicted that any military operation to seize the island would lead to impeachment, and called Trump's obsession with Greenland "the stupidest thing I've ever heard of."
In a sharp speech at a Senate hearing last week, Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky) warned of the "catastrophic" consequences of Trump's violation of the sovereignty of a longtime ally, saying it would be tantamount to "destroying the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful changes in U.S. access to the Arctic."
The senator was one of many who pointed out that strengthening security in Greenland is possible without annexing the island: "I have not yet heard a single word from representatives of this administration that we need something from Greenland that this independent people is no longer ready to provide us with."
On Friday in Copenhagen, a group of lawmakers from both parties said that the legislature should have its say on the issue and that there was little support for Trump's idea of gaining control of Greenland.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican from Alaska), after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, told reporters that there was virtually no support among Americans for the idea of annexing Greenland, and hinted that the vast majority of lawmakers would use the "tools" of Congress to oppose this idea, saying that "this is not a matter of opposition between Republicans and Democrats."".
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said after Wednesday's meeting with Vice President Jay Dee Vance and Secretary of State Mark Rubio that he and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt took the opportunity to debunk a number of Trump's dubious justifications for the United States takeover of Greenland. In particular, they refuted the president's claims that Russian and Chinese ships were cruising around Greenland and threatening to seize the island.
"According to our intelligence, there have been no Chinese warships in Greenland for about a decade," Rasmussen said. He also made it clear that he does not reject Trump's remarks about the importance of ensuring security in the region in the long term.
"There's always some truth in what he says," Rasmussen said. — We share his concerns to some extent. There is definitely a new security situation in the Arctic and the far North."
* Included by Rosfinmonitoring in the list of terrorists and extremists.
