Putin wants a weaker NATO. “Trump gives it to him on a plate”
President Donald Trump argues that control over Greenland is necessary to prevent Russia and China from strengthening their position in the Arctic.
But many concerned European officials and a growing bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington believe that Trump's insistence that the United States take over Greenland over the objections of Denmark, the Greenlanders themselves and other NATO allies is grist for Russia and President Vladimir Putin. And at the same time, it further strains the already tense relations within NATO.
According to the group, Trump's obsession with acquiring Greenland – and the shaky and changing arguments on which he bases it – have diverted attention from Ukraine and even led to the redirection of some resources to Greenland. All this is hampering European efforts to maintain a strong and united front, especially as the US pushes hard for a peace agreement to end the war.
– said one European government official.
Trump talks about security and the “Russian-Chinese threat”, but it is becoming increasingly clear in Europe and Washington that this story has more holes than facts. In the background, there is a growing concern that Greenland is becoming a convenient pretext that will destroy NATO's unity and distract attention from the real war – the one in Ukraine. And we know who benefits from this.
Like other interlocutors in this report, he remained anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly. — Respect for territorial integrity cannot be enforced by land grabs, and we should say this clearly. But instead of dealing with the real threat [wojną w Ukrainie]we will send troops to Greenland.
Trump doesn't have to “take” Greenland to oppose Russia. The United States already has military bases on the island and has traditionally cooperated closely with Denmark on security matters.
Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance (center) at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, March 28, 2025.Pool / Pool / Getty Images
Nevertheless, some observers believe that dubious claims of supposedly imminent Chinese and Russian aggression are one of several pretexts for future actions — up to and including the possibility of a military strike.
The president and administration representatives also suggested that the US needed Greenland for the “Golden Dome” anti-missile shield, for “economic security” and access to mineral resources – areas in which Denmark signaled its readiness for deeper cooperation.
“The president's arguments about Greenland are patent nonsense from start to finish,” said Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official under Barack Obama who is now research director at the European Council on Foreign Affairs in Washington.
European officials also note that if Trump were really that concerned about Russian aggression, he has plenty of ways to counter it — primarily in Ukrainewhere allies have long asked him to take a tougher stance on Putin once he returns to power.
A gift for Putin
Meanwhile, some fear that Trump's emphasis on taking over Greenland and his refusal to rule out the use of force are helping Putin pursue his longtime goal: weakening Western alliances.
Trump's last threat came on Friday, January 16, when, during an unrelated health care event, he suggested that he might impose additional tariffs on the European Union if it blocked him from taking over the territory.
Putin wants a weaker NATO. Trump gives it to him on a platter
said a second European government official.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Putin is a man of peace, even as Russia has stepped up aerial bombing of civilian targets and taken aggressive steps, such as deploying a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead in an attack on western Ukraine earlier this month. This week, the president argued again in an interview with Reuters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the main obstacle to a peace agreement.
US President Donald Trump, January 13, 2026Patrick Smith/Getty Images/Getty Images
After weeks of talks with Trump's most trusted intermediaries, Zelensky allegedly showed readiness to make territorial concessions and hold elections in exchange for post-war security guarantees from the US. Meanwhile, Putin shows no desire to negotiate – apparently content to continue bombing Ukrainian cities despite only minimal progress in a war that has been going on for almost four years.
— Russia thought it would take Kiev in three days, but instead it will take only symbolic pieces of land for four years, said a third European government official. — The idea that they have the resources and the “manufacture” to challenge the West in Greenland is simply absurd.
Europe in alert mode
In his first year back in office, Trump pressured NATO to increase defense spending, demanded that Europe pay for all future defense aid to Ukraine, and forced the EU to accept higher tariffs. But his renewed saber-rattling over Greenland in 2026 has caused even more panic in European capitals.
And yet the fact that the president seems to take the issue of control over Greenland deadly seriously – claiming that either he will buy it from Denmark or take it over by force — led to a sharp increase in tension among some European leaders. This week they decided to send troops to Greenland for unscheduled military exercises. It was a hasty attempt to show European defense capabilities, which Trump had previously downplayed, maintaining that only American forces could ensure the security of the territory.
Commander of the Joint Arctic Command Major General Soren Andersen (L) and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen aboard the Danish inspection ship Vaedderen in waters near Nuuk, Denmark, April 3, 2025.MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / PAP
At the same time, there is still no action in the Senate on a bill to tighten sanctions against Russia — even though its author, Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican from South Carolina), said last week that Trump had finally given the green light to take it up at this week's session.
Taken together, Trump's actions belie his stated concern about the Russian threat.
At this point, it's absolutely clear what Donald Trump is really looking for — and it has nothing to do with security
Shapiro said.
— This has nothing to do with Russia. It's about his personal aggrandizement, his mentality as a real estate tycoon, convinced that power and greatness are gained by taking over land and expanding the map of the United States. Anyone who believes that this is about the Russians, about security, about Russia and China, is simply not paying attention to what is happening, he added.
After a year of trying to placate Trump with public and private flattery European leaders are losing patience. This is most visible in the attitude of France and Germany – two pillars of the EU – whose leaders have increasingly openly expressed irritation in recent days.
French President Emmanuel Macron this month lamented that the US under Trump was “gradually turning its back” on allies that have been united by shared democratic values for 80 years. While warning Trump directly about the consequences of violating the sovereignty of a NATO ally, Macron also admitted that a geopolitical change is already taking place.
We live in a world of superpowers where there is a real temptation to divide the world between us
– he said.
A White House official responding to the criticism noted that Trump is not the first president to recognize the growing strategic importance of the Arctic. He pointed out, among others: to the recent actions of European forces responding to the presence of Russian submarines in the waters around Greenland.
“The president has been clear that he considers Greenland to be a strategically key location for national security,” the official said. — And he believes that Greenlanders would be better off as part of the United States.
A military ship belonging to the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, January 15, 2026.AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka/East News
“The Dumbest Thing”
Some Republicans in Washington, however, found the president's obsession with Greenland completely absurd. As part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is already protected by NATO Article 5, under which an attack on one member means an attack on the entire alliance.
Congressman Don Bacon (Republican from Nebraska) predicted that any military operation to take over the island would lead to impeachment, and called Trump's obsession “the stupidest thing he's ever heard.”
In a sharp speech on the Senate floor last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) warned of “catastrophic” consequences if Trump violated the sovereignty of a longtime ally. He stated that this would be tantamount to “burning the hard-earned trust of loyal allies in exchange for no real change in US access to the Arctic.”
He was one of many people who emphasized that strengthening security in Greenland is possible without annexation. “To date, I have not heard from this administration a single thing that we would need from Greenland that this sovereign nation would not already be willing to provide,” he said.
No more Trump myths
On Friday, January 16 in Copenhagen, a bipartisan group of lawmakers noted that Congress would also have its say on the matter and that support for allowing Trump to take over Greenland was slim. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen that there is little support among Americans for taking over Greenland. She also suggested that a broad majority of lawmakers would use congressional “tools” to oppose it, emphasizing that “this is not a case of Republicans against Democrats“.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said after Wednesday's meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt used the opportunity to refute a number of Trump's questionable justifications for a US takeover. In this they responded to the president's claims that Chinese and Russian ships circled Greenland and threatened to take over the island.
According to our intelligence, there has not been a Chinese warship near Greenland for about a decade
Rasmussen said. At the same time, he made it clear that he did not disregard Trump's statements regarding the long-term security of the region.
– There is always a bit of truth in what he says, he added. — To some extent, we share his concerns. There is no doubt that we are dealing with a new security situation in the Arctic and the High North.
