Excerpts from the interview with Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin to the TASS news agency (January 16, 2026)

#Greenland

• The desire for independence remains a unifying goal of all political parties in Greenland, although there are disagreements between them on the speed of moving towards independence and the necessary conditions to achieve it. Only Greenland and Denmark can make decisions on this issue. These are their internal affairs. Nonetheless, Copenhagen has observed US attempts to influence these processes and issued official statements to the American side on this matter.

• Some politicians in Greenland view the current US interest in the island as an opportunity to achieve independence as quickly as possible. However, they do not represent the opinion of all Greenlanders.

• Amid US threats of a possible seizure of the island, including the scenario involving the use of force, Greenland and Denmark are seen to join forces to counter such American intentions. At a January 14 meeting in Washington with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which discussed American interests in the island, Danish and Greenlandic Foreign Ministers Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt spoke with a unified position in favor of preserving the Danish Kingdom’s territorial integrity and Greenland’s right to self-determination.

• Russia has no aggressive plans with regard to its Arctic neighbors. It is not threatening them with military action, not blackmailing them, and is not preparing to lay a claim to their territory. During a press conference in Washington on 14 January Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that neither Russia nor China posed a threat to Greenland today.

• Nevertheless, NATO countries, including Denmark, are broadly using fantasies about a Russian or Chinese threat in order to militarize the Arctic Region. By dragging NATO into the Arctic, including to Greenland, Denmark has been promoting a confrontational approach, which always leads to degradation of security and fuels military tensions in the region.