Russia wants nothing to do with President Trump “shopping” for Greenland, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
Mr. Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longtime press secretary, indicated Moscow is opposed to becoming involved in the row over Greenland between the U.S. and Denmark.
“It is none of our business,” Mr. Peskov told journalists, Russian state media reported. “We never indulge in such international shopping.
“This is a matter of relations between the United States and Denmark,” Mr. Peskov said. “If we get it right, they have had a falling out. But it has nothing to do with us, so, we would like to stay away from that.”
Mr. Trump on Sunday acknowledged an interest in buying Greenland, a semiautonomous territory within Denmark, confirming details first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week.
Danish officials flatly dismissed the possibility of selling Greenland, however, subsequently prompting Mr. Trump to scrap a previously scheduled state visit to Denmark.
“All they had to do is say, ’No, we’d rather not do that’ or ’We’d rather not talk about it,’” Mr. Trump said Wednesday. “Don’t say, ’What an absurd idea that is.’”
Russia last significantly expanded the country’s territory by annexing Crimea from neighboring Ukraine in 2014, triggering an international dispute that resulted in Moscow losing its seat at the former Group of Eight.
More recently, Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he favored reinstating Russia into the alliance ahead of its members convening in 2020. He has since been rebuffed by the leaders of fellow Group of Seven countries, including Ukraine, Germany, France and the U.K.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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