Russia has expressed serious concern over the arrival of NATO forces in Greenland, a mineral-rich Arctic island that US President Donald Trump has publicly threatened to seize.
On Wednesday, France, Sweden, Germany, and Norway announced they would deploy military personnel to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, for a reconnaissance mission. The move followed a meeting in Washington between US, Danish, and Greenlandic officials that failed to dissuade Trump from pursuing his plan.
Trump has described Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, as critical to US security, warning that if the United States does not act, “China or Russia will.”
In a statement issued by its embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, Russia said, “The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us.” The embassy added that NATO is “building up its military presence there under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing.”
Neither the Russian Foreign Ministry nor the Kremlin has officially commented on the deployment.
Both NATO and Russia have increased their military presence in the Arctic in recent years, drawn by new shipping routes and mining opportunities as sea ice recedes. Moscow said Trump’s statements are placing unprecedented strain on NATO, noting that internal disputes over Greenland have made decision-making within the alliance “increasingly unpredictable.”
