The Faroe Islands, an Autonomous Part of NATO Member Denmark, Refuses to Join Anti-Russian Sanctions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 13 – For the third time since February 2022, the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of some 50,000 people that belongs to Denmark, a NATO member, has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow in the fishing and shipping industries despite calls from Copenhagen, Brussels and other NATO capitals.

            According to a Russian report, the Faroe Islands government believes that its trade relations with the Russian Federation serves its national interests and Copenhagen is afraid to put pressure on the Islands government lest the latter decide to declare independence (fondsk.ru/news/2023/05/13/farerskie-ostrova-protiv-kollektivnogo-zapada-59244.html).

            Obviously, Russians welcome the position of the Faroe Islands government. But more than that, they hope that it will have an impact on two other autonomous territories, Denmark’s Greenland and Norway’s Spitsbergen archipelago. Whether that is reasonable remains to be seen, but this is yet another indication that Moscow will engage in salami tactics where it can.