Observers doubt the new US president will buy the world's largest island but his interest underlines its strategic importance President Donald Trump's claim that US ownership and control of Greenland is "an absolute necessity" has underlined the strategic importance of the world's largest island in terms of American missile defences and anti-submarine operations.

Donald Trump has refused to rule out using military force to seize the world's largest island, and the Kremlin's concern is no surprise, given the Arctic's growing economic and geopolitical significance to Moscow.