Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the annual joint call-in show and press conference in Moscow, Russia, December 19, 2025.
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Russia on Friday called the Trump administration’s threat to take over Greenland “extraordinary” and added that it would continue to monitor the situation.
“The situation is extraordinary, and you can even say it is abnormal from the point of view of international law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in comments carried by Russian state news agency Rianovosti.
US President Donald Trump has been discussing acquiring Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, since the bold military operation that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. He said the United States needed Greenland for national security and that only Washington could counter the alleged threats from Russia and China to the island.
Peskov added that President Trump “said that international law is not a priority for him. The situation is developing along a different trajectory, and we, together with the rest of the world, are watching closely which way it will go.”
A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Peskov’s comments came just after the United States, Denmark and Greenland held tense talks over the future of the Arctic island.
The White House talks, which Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen described as “frank but constructive,” ended on Wednesday without any diplomatic progress, although the two sides agreed to continue dialogue through a high-level working group.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, President Trump said that he “doesn’t need international law” and that the only thing that can stop him is “his own morality” and his heart.
Meanwhile, several NATO countries are sending small numbers of troops to Greenland for joint military exercises, aiming to strengthen their military presence in and around the sparsely populated island.
A Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules of the Danish Air Force (RDAF) is parked on the tarmac at Nuuk International Airport in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 15, 2026. The day after we arrived after transporting Danish military personnel.
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Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, which are responsible for defending Greenland, have all confirmed plans to take part in a joint exercise known as Operation Arctic Endurance.
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was unacceptable to say that Beijing and Moscow were a threat to Greenland, and accused Western countries of double standards.
