Germany sent a plane to Nuuk on Thursday with a contingent of 13 soldiers, although authorities said they would only remain in Greenland until Saturday. Sweden sent three officers and Norway two.
The limited deployment aims to send a message of support to Greenland, at a time when US President Donald Trump continues to push for the acquisition of the island.
“This is a first exercise. We will show the US that NATO is present,” said French diplomat Olivier Poivre d’Arvor. Despite being modest, this deployment is, however, “unprecedented”, highlighted Poivre d’Arvor. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the initial contingent will soon be reinforced with “land, air and sea resources”.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund-Poulsen also said this Thursday that he did not have a final number for NATO’s expanded presence in Greenland.
“But it is clear that we will now be able to plan a larger and more permanent presence throughout 2026, and this is crucial to show that security in the Arctic is not just for the Kingdom of Denmark, but for all of NATO,” he declared.
Troop deployment has “no impact” on Trump’s goal
The White House spokeswoman said that the deployment of European troops to Greenland will have no influence on the US president’s ambitions in relation to the autonomous Danish territory.
“I don’t believe that sending troops to Europe has any impact on the President’s decision-making, and it has no impact on his goal of acquiring Greenland,” Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference.
“Trump “has made his priority very clear: he wants the United States to acquire Greenland”, he asserted.
The deployment of troops was announced hours after a meeting at the White House between officials from the US, Denmark and Greenland.
At the end of this meeting, on Wednesday, the minister Danish of Foreign Affairs said that a “fundamental disagreement” remained and that they had failed to change the US position.
Donald Trump continues to insist on his desire to acquire Greenland. This Thursday, the US president reiterated that the US needs Greenland “for national security”, namely to contain the advances of Russia and China in the Arctic.
Although he did not rule out the use of force, Trump said on Wednesday night that he believed it was possible to reach an agreement with Denmark.
“The problem is that Denmark can’t do anything if Russia or China want to occupy Greenland, but we can do everything we can. You discovered this last week with Venezuela,” he said.
Trump has warned of the Russian and Chinese threat to justify his intention to acquire the Arctic island. However, there is currently little evidence that large numbers of Chinese and Russian ships are sailing close to the coast of Greenland.
This Thursday, Russia stated that statements about Moscow and Beijing representing a threat to Greenland are a myth created to incite hysteria and warned of the dangers of an escalation of the confrontation in the region.
Still, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman warned that any attempt to ignore Russia’s interests in the Arctic will not go unanswered.
