US Bid for Greenland Like Russia’s Annexation of Crimea: Ex-Diplomat

President Donald Trump’s quest to acquire Greenland has been compared to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The comparison was made by Claus Mathiesen, a lecturer at Denmark’s Defense Academy and a former military attache in Ukraine.

Why It Matters

Trump’s repeated declarations about wanting the U.S. to annex Greenland have faced significant criticism. Despite clear rejections from Greenland’s prime minister, who insists the Arctic island is not for sale, Trump continues to push the issue.

What To Know

Mathiesen, lecturer at the Danish Defense Language School at the Danish Defense Academy, said Monday that what is happening in Greenland now is reminiscent of the time before the annexation of Crimea 11 years ago.

Crimea remains a key flashpoint in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The Black Sea peninsula was seized by Putin in a widely condemned move considered illegal by the international community.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to reverse this annexation, and has insisted that the peninsula must be returned to Ukrainian control as a critical condition for any lasting peace agreement.

“American politicians will come in droves and agitate for Greenland to be American,” Mathiesen, a defense attache in Ukraine from 1999 to 2007, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Trump has renewed his interest in the U.S. acquiring Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of Denmark and home to a U.S. Space Force base.

Speaking at a press conference on January 7, Trump said the U.S. needed the vast, resource-rich island for “national security purposes.” The Arctic island, with a population of about 56,000, holds significant geopolitical value due to its strategic location and abundant natural resources.

The president declared that he would seize the country “one way or another” in his joint address to Congress on March 4.

Before the annexation of Crimea, Putin had highlighted the peninsula’s strategic and military significance, and said the territory was historically tied to Russia.

In his address to the Federal Assembly on March 18, 2014—the day he severed Crimea from Ukraine—he described its port city of Sevastopol as “legendary” with “an outstanding history,” and called it “a fortress that serves as the birthplace of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has echoed that sentiment, adding that use of the island’s territory was “Greenland’s business.”

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Egede told Reuters in December.

What People Are Saying

Claus Mathiesen, a lecturer at Denmark’s Defense Academy and a former military attache in Ukraine, said on X: “What is happening now in Greenland is reminiscent of the time before the annexation of Crimea. American politicians will come in droves and agitate for Greenland to be American. Promise that everything will be much better.”

Andreas Umland, analyst at the Stockholm Centre For Eastern European Studies said on X: “Replace ‘Greenland’ with ‘Crimea’ or ‘Donbas’ and you get Moscow’s propaganda preparing the Russian invasions of Ukraine since 2014. Reminds [me] also of the aggressors’ narratives for justifying many other military interventions, occupations, and annexations in world history.”

What Happens Next

Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, will travel to Greenland on Thursday with her son and a U.S. delegation, the White House said. Egede has slammed the move as “highly aggressive.”