Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that his country will adopt “military countermeasures” if the West decides to increase its armed presence in Greenland, in response to the possibility of the island becoming a strategic enclave against Moscow.Lavrov explained to legislators that “in case of militarization of Greenland and the creation of military capabilities destined for Russia, we will take appropriate measures, including those of a military-technical nature.”
The tension over Greenland escalated between the end of 2025 and the beginning of this year, consolidating one of the most complex scenarios for the transatlantic relationship in decades.Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States was marked by his pressure for Denmark to facilitate US control over the island.Trump called Greenland a “poorly located but strategically vital piece of ice” and initially refused to rule out the use of force to protect the island from Russian and Chinese influence.
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The crisis was addressed at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026. During a meeting between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, an agreement in principle was reached.The pact contemplates three axes: the renunciation of military force and tariffs, the creation of a model of “Sovereign Bases”—similar to the British ones in Cyprus—that give the United States control over specific military zones but maintain Danish ownership of the island, and the installation of an advanced anti-missile system, known as Golden Dome, along with preferential rights for American companies in the extraction of rare earths.
The local government of Greenland stressed that any agreement on its territory must have the approval of the Greenlandic people and not just Copenhagen or NATO.Jurists warn that the sovereign bases model would require a modification of the Danish constitution, which anticipates a long and complex political debate.
In parallel, the dispute coincides with the expiration of the last major nuclear arms control treaty in force between the United States and Russia, New START, which limited the nuclear warheads deployed by each country to 1,550.Moscow announced that it will maintain the limit “as long as Washington does not exceed it,” although the Trump administration maintains that the agreement “was poorly negotiated and is being seriously violated.”
The White House has proposed that a future treaty should include China due to the growth of its nuclear arsenal.Russia insists that, if Beijing joins, the United States’ nuclear allies, such as the United Kingdom and France, should also join.For the first time in decades, there is no international agreement that limits the proliferation of the most destructive weapons on the planet, a scenario that has revived fears of a new arms race.
