Vladimir Putin should compete with Donald Trump to control Greenland, and could share the world’s biggest island with the US, said a Russian general.
The Kremlin should also seize Spitsbergen, a Norwegian island in the Arctic where military operations are banned, and use it as a defence stronghold.
The demands came from reservist general Andrey Gurulev, who serves as a hardline pro-Putin MP, and is a TV propagandist for the Kremlin regime.
‘If, for example, Trump declares his claims in Greenland, why don’t we look at Greenland?’
Ice-capped Greenland is an autonomous territory which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark – but the incoming US president has declared his hope to buy it for the United States.
‘We need Greenland. This is not a joke,’ insisted Lt-Gen Gurulev.
‘We need it very much.
‘Why can’t we bring a few boxes stuffed [with money] and close this issue once and for all?
‘At worst, Trump can agree to cut Greenland into a couple of parts.
‘It is clear that Denmark will never be there again.’
He also set his sights on Spitsbergen which is sovereign Norwegian territory but which Russia exercises rights under the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 to conduct economic activities such as mining.
There is a Russian consulate on the Arctic island in Barentsburg, the world’s northernmost diplomatic mission.
The island is demilitarised under international agreement.
Gurulev says Russia should overturn this.
‘Today, Spitsbergen, which is in the underbelly of our Northern Fleet, is extremely important to us,’ he said on a TV propaganda show.
‘I think that we should move from joint development to Russian options, and there will be very good bases there, influencing the entire Arctic ….
‘The main thing for us is to build a normal defence [system] there, to build it there in such a way that no one would even think of poking their noses into our Arctic [territories].’
He said on his Telegram channel that ‘important for us to strengthen our positions on Spitsbergen, which is in close proximity to the Northern Fleet.
‘Instead of joint development, we need to move to Russian control, creating bases that affect the entire Arctic region.
‘Military forces in the Arctic need to be built up, without being distracted only by the situation in Ukraine.’
