INITIAL DEPLOYMENT APPEARS SMALL
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Wednesday about 200 US troops were stationed in Greenland, which has a population of around 57,000.
The scale of the planned European military build-up has not been made public, but initial deployments appear small.
The German Armed Forces were deploying a reconnaissance team of 13, first to Copenhagen, before heading on to Greenland with Danish personnel. Late on Wednesday, a Danish Air Force plane landed at Nuuk airport and personnel in military fatigues disembarked.
Sweden was sending three officers, and Norway two. Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, France’s ambassador to the Poles, said France was sending about 15 mountain specialists.
“A first team of French military personnel is already on the ground and will be reinforced in the coming days by land, air and naval assets,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
France and the European Union as a whole must be “unyielding in upholding territorial sovereignty”, he added.
One British officer was joining the reconnaissance group. The Netherlands said it would send one officer from its navy. Poland said it would not send soldiers.
The European military deployment to Greenland sends two messages to the US administration, said Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.
“… One is to deter, is to show that ‘if you decide to do something militarily, we’re ready to defend Greenland’,” he told Reuters. “And the other purpose is to say: ‘Well, we take your critique seriously, we increase our presence, take care of our sovereignty, and improve surveillance over Greenland.'”
After meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, Rasmussen and Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said the US and Denmark would form a working group to discuss concerns regarding the island.
Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, reiterated on Facebook on Thursday that the island did not want to be governed by, or owned by, the United States, and that it would remain part of Denmark and the NATO alliance.
“Now is not the time for internal discussions. Now is the time for unity, calm and responsibility. I’m following the situation closely, and I stand with you to look after Greenland,” he said.