At the beginning of the year there was still a hangover mood in Moscow because of Maduro’s fall in Venezuela. Now the Greenland conflict is causing Russian cheers.
January 20, 2026, 6:30 p.mJanuary 20, 2026, 6:30 p.m
Bojan Stula / ch media
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is proving – once again – to be one of his most productive allies: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Monday that his boss had received an invitation from the USA via diplomatic channels to take part in the so-called Peace Council for the Gaza Strip.
“A gift for Moscow”: Russia’s Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin is probably watching the goings-on in “Europe’s madhouse” with amusement. picture: ap
“We are currently examining all the details of this offer, and we are also hoping for contacts with the American side in order to clarify all the nuances,” Peskov, visibly satisfied, commented on this invitation to the state agency Interfax. According to analysts, Putin will not miss such an opportunity to return to the Western diplomatic arena. The billion dollar “joining fee” demanded by Trump, which was first made public by the US portal Bloomberg News, should not be an obstacle to this.
In Russia, however, the dispute over Greenland is seen as even more significant than the White House’s red carpet. The topic dominates the Russian landscape at the beginning of the week. The daily newspaper “Moskowsky Komsomolets” states in a commentary: “Europe is screwed. And frankly, it’s a pleasure to watch.” The past week produced a good joke, the author continues: “For decades, Denmark, as part of NATO, feared an attack from Russia. Now the attack is being carried out by NATO.” Which leads directly to the title of the article: “The head doctor went crazy in the asylum.”
“Greenland – the end of NATO?”
The state daily newspaper “Rossikaja Gazeta” also writes with great joy, but also with an interesting twist, about “Greenland – the end of NATO?”, as the hopeful title of the article says. “For Washington, the Western defense alliance, in which the US has played first fiddle for decades, is less important than expanding its territory.” The author concludes: “If Trump achieves the annexation of Greenland on July 4, 2026, when America celebrates the 250th anniversary of independence, he will undoubtedly become a historical figure.”
Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, analyzes this in his press review: “The way it’s written here, the newspaper is literally encouraging Donald Trump to fight for Greenland and conclude the biggest deal of his life. It presents Denmark and Europe in general as the villains here, standing in the way of the US president’s historic realization.” At the same time, the Greenland conflict distracts from Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine and justifies Russian claims on the neighboring country: “It’s like a gift for Moscow,” summarizes Rosenberg, an intimate Russia expert.
The daily newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” uses an almost identical trick in its Greenland reporting: “If Donald Trump annexes Greenland, the USA will become the second largest country in the world after Russia.” This would put Donald Trump on a par with great US presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. “At the end of the day, no one remembers that George Washington was a slave owner or that Abraham Lincoln was brutal against Indians.”
Today’s Russian papers on Greenland: “Europe’s at a total loss. It’s a pleasure to watch.” Government paper: “Europe doesn’t need the American greatness Trump is promoting…the Old World’s keen to keep Greenland for itself, even at the risk of NATO’s collapse.” #ReadingRussia pic.twitter.com/9VJmRRewev
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) January 19, 2026
Whatever Trump’s motivation behind his Greenland ambitions, the result is unequivocal, says prominent Moscow political scientist Sergei Stankevich on Russian television: “The Americans have dealt NATO a catastrophic blow.”