Putin’s ally sparks new invasion fears after Trump’s warning as ‘Russia needs Greenland

should compete with for control of Greenland, a Russian general has said, after the US president-elect suggested the US could seize them.

Reservist general Andrey Gurulev, who serves as a hardline pro-Putin MP and is a TV propagandist for the Kremlin regime, also said the Kremlin should also look to seize Spitsbergen, a Norwegian island in the Arctic where military operations are banned, and use it as a defensive stronghold.

“If, for example, declares his claims in Greenland, why don’t we look at Greenland?” he asked on Russian state TV.

Ice-capped Greenland is an autonomous territory which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but Trump, who will be inaugurated president for the second time on January 20, has declared his hope for the United States to gain control of it.

In a press conference from his sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate last week, the Republican refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to take control of and the Panama Canal after arguing security.

The Panama Canal has been solely controlled by the eponymous country for more than 25 years. The US returned the Panama Canal Zone to the country in 1979 and ended its joint partnership in controlling the strategic waterway in 1999.

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” he told reporters. “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do they should give it up because we need it for national security.”

Asked if he would rule out the use of the military, Trump said: “I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something.”

The comments raised eyebrows across Europe, as is , let alone commit to deploying troops.

In his comments on state TV, Gurulev suggested that the Kremlin should make a lucrative offer for Greenland itself, saying: “We need Greenland. This is not a joke,” he insisted. “We need it very much.

“Why can’t we bring a few boxes stuffed [with money] and close this issue once and for all?” he said, adding: “At worst, Trump can agree to cut Greenland into a couple of parts. It is clear that Denmark will never be there again.”

Denmark has ruled out any prospect of selling the islands. The country’s Prime Minister Matte Frederiksen insisted: “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either.”

Greenland is vital to the US for its strategic location, as it lies along the shortest route from Europe to North America. It’s also rich in “rare earths”, a class of unique hard rock resources used for things like advanced weaponry, and electronics, reports.

Following Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “The Arctic is a zone of our national interests, our strategic interests. We are interested in preserving the atmosphere of peace and stability in the Arctic zone.

“We are watching the rather dramatic development of the situation very closely, but so far, thank God, at the level of statements,” Peskov added.

Gurulev also set his sights on Spitsbergen, a sovereign Norwegian territory upon which exercises rights under the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 to conduct economic activities such as mining.

There is a Russian consulate on the Arctic island in Barentsburg, the world’s northernmost diplomatic mission. The island is demilitarised under international agreement, but Gurulev says should overturn this.

“Today, Spitsbergen, which is in the underbelly of our Northern Fleet, is extremely important to us,” he said on the TV propaganda show.

“I think that we should move from joint development to Russian options, and there will be very good bases there, influencing the entire Arctic ….

“The main thing for us is to build a normal defence [system] there, to build it there in such a way that no one would even think of poking their noses into our Arctic [territories].”

Writing on his Telegram channel, Gurulev said it is “important for us to strengthen our positions on Spitsbergen, which is in close proximity to the Northern Fleet.

“Instead of joint development, we need to move to Russian control, creating bases that affect the entire Arctic region. Military forces in the Arctic need to be built up, without being distracted only by the situation in ” he added.