Moscow: The bid by US President Donald Trump to take over Greenland heralds a “deep crisis” for NATO and raises questions about the alliance’s preservation as a single military-political bloc, Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday.
“It was hard to imagine before that such a thing
could happen,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference, noting it could create a scenario in which “one NATO member is going to attack another NATO member.”
He said Trump’s actions upended the Western concept of the “rule-based global order” that Russia has long criticised, even after Moscow sent troops into neighbouring Ukraine nearly four years ago.
“Now it’s not the Collective West writing the rules but just one its representative,” Lavrov said sardonically. “It’s a major upheaval for Europe, and we are watching it. The Euro-Atlantic concept of ensuring security and cooperation has discredited itself.”
Denmark’s control over Greenland was a vestige of the colonial past, Lavrov claimed.
“In principle, Greenland isn’t a natural part of Denmark,” he added.
At the same time, Lavrov strongly denied Trump’s suggestions that Russia and China have any intentions to threaten the Arctic island.
“We have no relation to that,” he said.
“We are certainly watching this serious geopolitical situation and will make our conclusions when it’s settled.”
Speaking at an annual news conference on Moscow’s foreign policy priorities, Lavrov also offered cautious approval of Trump’s initiative to set up a Board of Peace.
The organisation initially was seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza but is taking shape with
ambitions to have a far broader mandate of other global crises, potentially rivalling the United Nations.
The Kremlin said that it was studying Trump’s invitation to join the board and waiting to hear more details from Washington.
“This initiative reflects the US understanding that even with the foreign policy philosophy it has it considers necessary to rally a group of nations that would cooperate with them,” Lavrov said.
He praised Trump’s initiatives to negotiate an end to fighting in Ukraine, describing the US as the only Western country that has “expressed understanding of the need to take Russian
interests into account and offered solutions taking into consideration the root causes of the crisis.”