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Vladimir Putin has warned of intensifying geopolitical competition in the Arctic amid rising US threats to take Greenland from Denmark, but said Russia was open to co-operation with western countries in the region.
As US vice-president JD Vance was set to visit the territory, Putin said on Thursday that Donald Trump’s intent to acquire Greenland had nothing to do with Russia and had deep historical roots dating to the 19th century.
But he warned that intensifying competition carried risks.
Speaking at a conference on the Arctic in the polar city of Murmansk, Putin said it was “obvious that the US will continue to systemically advance its geopolitical, military and economic interests in the region”, adding that its dispute over Greenland with Denmark was a matter for the two states.
Putin said Russia was worried that “Nato countries in general are increasingly designating the far north as a springboard for potential conflicts” and would react accordingly.
“It is obvious that the role and significance of the Arctic is growing for Russia and the whole world, but geopolitical struggles for position in the region are intensifying at the same time,” Putin said.
Russia would not “allow any incursions on our country’s sovereignty and forcibly defend our national interests”, he said, adding that it would increase troop numbers in the Arctic.
Repeated threats by Trump to take Greenland, potentially by force, from Denmark have unsettled islanders and Copenhagen.
The consternation mounted when multiple senior US officials were due to visit Greenland this weekend for what they billed as a “private visit” to watch the national dog sledding contest.
But that trip was cancelled after Greenlanders announced several protests against it, raising the spectre of television images that would prove embarrassing for the US.
Instead, Vance and his wife will visit the Pituffik Space Base, the sole American military installation on Greenland, on Friday in what Nordic diplomats see as a “face-saving mechanism”.
Denmark and Greenland were particularly upset about the timing of the visit in the middle of coalition discussions after national elections on the island were won by a party favouring slow, gradual independence from Copenhagen.
Greenlandic media said a coalition agreement between four of the five parties in parliament — minus the one most in favour of quick independence — should be unveiled on Friday. Experts say Greenlanders have become wary that independence from Denmark could be exploited by the US.
Many parties remain keen on strengthening the US security presence on Greenland, as well as inviting American companies to help exploit the mineral wealth spread over its vast landmass.
Russia has pitched potential Arctic co-operation to the US as one of several possible pathways to bring Moscow in from the cold three years after Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin is keen to develop the Northern Sea Route via Arctic shipping lanes as it reorients its export-driven economy from European to Asian markets, a process that has sped up after China threw Russia an economic lifeline during the Ukraine war.
Russia’s ability to sell liquefied natural gas on the world market has also been hampered by western sanctions against its Arctic energy facilities and tanker fleet.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, alluded to those talks in an interview aired after he met Putin in Moscow last week.
“Who doesn’t want to have a world where Russia and the United States are doing collaboratively good things together? Thinking about how to integrate their energy policies in the Arctic, share sea lanes, maybe send LNG . . . into Europe together,” Witkoff said.
On Thursday Putin complained that western countries had “chosen a path of confrontation” by suspending Russia from the Arctic Council, the co-operation body for the region, as well as halting scientific, ecological and cultural talks.
But he admitted Russia’s ambitious plans to develop the region through expanding its northern ports, building a merchant fleet backed by nuclear-powered icebreakers, and expanding the Northern Sea Route would require working with foreign powers.
Putin said western countries were welcome to join Russia in “global international projects in the Arctic with the participation of friendly states”. Moscow would seek to develop its partnerships with foreign shipbuilding companies and buy foreign-made vessels, he added.
The five European members of the Arctic Council — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden — have shown little interest in readmitting Russia while its troops are still in Ukraine.
But several senior Nordic diplomats concede that the exclusion of Russia has ended the era of “Arctic exceptionalism” in which the far north was isolated from geopolitical tensions elsewhere.
Additional reporting by Richard Milne
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