Top European nations have deployed troops to Greenland in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threat to annex it.
After the January 3 capture of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Trump has repeatedly boasted that America would take over the Island.
Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland’s defence, Germany, France, Sweden and Norway have all confirmed plans to send military personnel to the sparsely populated island.
A small French military contingent has arrived in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, officials say, as several European states deploy small numbers in a so-called reconnaissance mission.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the initial contingent would be reinforced soon with “land, air, and sea assets”.
The BBC quoted Senior diplomat Olivier Poivre d’Arvor as saying the mission was sending a strong political signal: “This is a first exercise… we’ll show the US that NATO is present.”
Greenland’s foreign ministers travelled to Washington for a meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance on Wednesday.
Following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said while the talks were constructive, there remained a “fundamental disagreement” between the two sides and later criticised Trump’s bid to buy Greenland.
Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on his bid to bring Greenland under US control, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “we need Greenland for national security”.
Although he did not rule out the use of force, he said late on Wednesday that he thought something could be worked out with Denmark.
“The problem is there’s not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, but there’s everything we can do. You found that out last week with Venezuela.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she doesn’t think the deployment of additional European troops to Greenland will impact the president’s decision-making process on the Arctic territory.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland was not planning to join the European military deployment to Greenland, but warned that any US military intervention there “would be a political disaster”.
“A conflict or attempted annexation of the territory of a Nato member by another Nato member would be the end of the world as we know it – and which for many years guaranteed our security,” he told a press conference.
Russia’s embassy in Belgium meanwhile expressed “serious concern” at what was unfolding in the Arctic, accusing Nato of building up a military presence there “under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing”.
However, the European Nato deployment consists of only a few dozen personnel as part of Danish-led joint exercises called Operation Arctic Endurance. While heavy in symbolism, it was not immediately clear how long they would stay.
