Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
In fact, Greenland is more than 23 times farther away from the U.S. than Russia is.
Since the beginning of the year, Donald Trump has revived his desire to make the largest island in the world, Greenland, part of the U.S.
This has created a tense diplomatic crisis between the U.S., the rest of NATO—of which Greenland is part due to its status within the Kingdom of Denmark—and the EU.
Over the weekend, the BBC quoted Donald Trump as saying that Greenland is a U.S. national security priority because he does not want Russia or China as neighbours.
The POTUS has repeatedly said that if Greenland does not become part of the U.S., Russia or China will seize the northern island instead.
But the thing is: the U.S. already has Russia as a neighbour—and the Russian border is much closer to the U.S. than Greenland is.
More than 23 times the distance
Using the website FreeMapTools.com, the editorial measured the shortest distance between the U.S. and Greenland at 1,962 kilometres (1,219 miles), from the northeasternmost border of the U.S. to the southwesternmost point of Greenland’s shoreline.
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In comparison, the westernmost point of the Alaskan coast is about 79 kilometres (49 miles) from Russia’s eastern shore.
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That means Greenland is more than 23 times farther away from the U.S. than Russia is.
Actually, Alaska set the stage for the Putin–Trump summit in August 2025, meaning Trump has been far closer to the Russian border than to the Greenlandic one.
Sources BBC, FreeMapTools, Reuters
