MOSCOW: Russia threatened to take military “countermeasures” if the West boosts its own military footprint on Greenland, Moscow´s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Several European countries have sent small contingents of troops to Greenland in recent weeks after President Donald Trump repeatedly said he wanted to annex the Arctic island.
“Of course, in the event of the militarisation of Greenland and the creation of military capabilities aimed at Russia, we will take adequate counter-measures, including military-technical ones,” Lavrov said in a speech to Russian lawmakers.
Greenland -- home to some 57,000 people -- has been an autonomous Danish territory for decades.
Trump last month backed off threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with Nato chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence.
He had previously been warning that if the United States did not seize Greenland, Russia or China could.
“The US, Denmark and Greenland must sort this out themselves,” Lavrov said.
He accused Denmark of treating Greenlanders as “second-class citizens.”Greenland has said that sovereignty and integrity are a “red line” in any discussions with Washington.Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday it would abide by limits on its nuclear weapons set out in a lapsed arms control treaty with the United States, so long as Washington did the same.
The New START agreement -- the last treaty between the world´s top two nuclear powers -- expired earlier this month, with Washington not responding to an offer by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a one-year extension of a cap on the size of each side´s nuclear arsenal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was in no rush to start developing and deploying more weapons -- backtracking on comments by his ministry last week that said Russia considered itself no longer bound by the treaty´s terms.
“We proceed from the fact that this moratorium, which was announced by our president, remains in effect, but only while the United States does not exceed the outlined limits,” Lavrov said in an address to Russia´s parliament.
