Denmark suggests NATO surveillance operations in Greenland, supported by the island, as US threats and Arctic security concerns rise.
BRUSSELS: Denmark has proposed that NATO begin surveillance operations in Greenland with the island’s support.
Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced the proposal on Monday after meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
“We have proposed it, the secretary general has taken note of that, and I think we can now — we hope — define a framework on how that can be concretised,” Poulsen told Danish television.
The move comes as US President Donald Trump tests the transatlantic alliance with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”.
European nations are closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish autonomous territory.
German and French leaders recently denounced as “blackmail” Trump’s weekend threats to impose new tariffs on countries opposing his Arctic plans.
Rutte stated on social media platform X that he discussed Arctic security, including Greenland, with the Danish minister and Greenland’s top diplomat.
“We’ll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues,” he wrote.
Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson suggested a NATO mission “could be a way forward” as Trump insists more must be done to counter Chinese and Russian threats to Greenland.
“We are seeing what is the most constructive way that we could contribute to this endeavor of strengthening the alliance footprint in the High North,” Jonson said after a Nordic ministers’ meeting at NATO headquarters.
