Earlier, in an interview published on January 29, the head of the Foreign Ministry of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, said that Moscow had addressed Guterres with a request. He pointed out that if the UN recognizes the right of the people of Greenland to self-determination, that it is the people of Greenland who decide their fate, then “will the UN recognize such a right for the population of Donbass and Crimea.”
A journalist from the TASS propaganda agency asked the UN Secretary General the corresponding question at a press conference.
Guterres responded that there are two important principles – the territorial integrity of countries and the self-determination of peoples, but “the self-determination of peoples has a number of prerequisites.”
“After a very careful study by our Office of Legal Affairs, our position is that the principle of self-determination does not apply in the situations of Crimea and Donbass. Therefore, in this situation, the principle of the territorial integrity of Ukraine prevails,” the UN Secretary General emphasized.
Le Monde wrote that US President Donald Trump's determination to take over Greenland was received positively by Lavrov, who was quick to draw a parallel with the Ukrainian Crimea, annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014. In particular, Lavrov said on January 20 that “Crimea is as important for the security of Russia as Greenland is for the United States.”
Context
During the war against Ukraine, the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, among other things, temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula (in 2014).
Trump has repeatedly repeated that the United States must gain control of Greenland, otherwise it will allegedly be captured by China and the Russian Federation. He also said that the United States could use military force to seize Greenland (Danish autonomy).
The media wrote that Danish troops were ready for battle in the event of a US attack on Greenland.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stated that between the US and Denmark, the country chooses Denmark and “does not want” to belong to, be part of or be governed by the US.
Denmark may grant the United States “sovereignty over small areas” of Greenland for the construction of American military bases, the NYT reported.
About the fact that the USA and Denmark are negotiating on Greenland to reassure Trump, Bloomberg noted on January 29.
