What is Russia’s reaction to Trump’s Greenland bid?

When U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. had to take over Greenland as a matter of national security, saying Chinese and Russian ships were “all over the place” in the Arctic region, the comments attracted a swift rebuke from Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Monday hit back, accusing Washington of “using the so-called ‘China threat’ as a pretext for itself to seek selfish gains.”

Russia, on the contrary, has been notably silent on Trump’s Greenland takeover ambitions and his threat to use military force to seize the Arctic island if necessary.

The silence emanating from the Kremlin on the Greenland matter could partly be explained by the fact that it’s been a holiday period for Russians, with Orthodox Christians celebrating Christmas on Jan. 7. Russia’s leadership has yet to comment on the capture of Russian ally Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s leader, last weekend.

Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement criticizing the U.S.’ “aggressive actions” in Venezuela, and on the seizure of a newly Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic on Wednesday. But it too has been silent when it comes to Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory belonging to Denmark.

Moscow has arguably far more reason than China to be vocal about any potential U.S. “takeover” of a giant Arctic entity like Greenland, as Russia has had a laser-like focus on rising (and rival) geostrategic interests in the Arctic in recent years.

That’s with good reason: Russia is the largest Arctic nation by far, spanning 53% of the Arctic Ocean coastline, and it has longstanding geopolitical, strategic and socio-economic interests in the region.

The Arctic is a strategic driver of jobs, investment, and growth for the Russian economy with oil, gas, and mineral extraction industries based there, as well as fisheries and infrastructure and transportation logistics, particularly related to the Northern Sea Route — a major Arctic shipping route for Russia between Europe and Asia.

In addition, Russia maintains its sea-based nuclear deterrent in the Arctic and has a number of military bases and airfields there, as well as a specialized fleet of icebreakers to facilitate trade, transportation, and resource extraction in the territory.

Russia’s Arctic interests could well be impacted by the U.S.’ fixation on Greenland, and in particular, any move to take over the island by force. But analysts told CNBC that Moscow was more interested in seeing its ultimate goal — the destruction of NATO — realised.

“The Russian stake in Greenland is tiny,” Jamie Shea, former deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security…