Denmark always treated Greenland ‘like its colony’ – Putin

The Russian president has suggested that the US could afford purchasing the overseas territory from Copenhagen

Denmark has always treated Greenland like its colony, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, commenting on US President Donald Trump’s plans to purchase the self-governing Arctic island.

Trump restated his claim on the Danish overseas territory during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday and ruled out the use of force.

“Denmark has always treated Greenland like a colony, and treated it quite harshly, if not to say cruelly,” Putin said during a meeting with Russia’s National Security Council in the Kremlin on Wednesday.

Putin said Russia has no stake in the conflict over the island’s ownership. “It definitely doesn’t concern us. I think they will sort it out among themselves,” he said.

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The president mentioned that the US purchased Alaska in 1867 from Russia and the Caribbean territory known today as the US Virgin Islands in 1916 from Denmark. Putin suggested that the potential purchase of Greenland could cost up to $1 billion and that “the United States can afford such a sum.”

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Moscow had any plans to interfere in Greenland’s affairs.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen reiterated in Davos that Copenhagen would not allow the US to annex Greenland, where residents held anti-Trump demonstrations earlier this week.

Denmark colonized Greenland in the 18th century and granted it home rule in 1979. The US deployed troops to Greenland during World War II and maintains an airbase on its northwestern coast.