Germany says NATO will push back on Russia, China in Arctic

A stalemate between Denmark and the United States over Greenland is prompting Europeans to establish a military presence on the Arctic island after a high-level meeting failed to defuse U.S. threats over its future.

Germany will send a reconnaissance team to Greenland on Friday together with other NATO partners in a show of unity, the defense ministry said in a statement on Thursday. A first team of French soldiers is already on site with more on the way, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech to the Armed Forces.

“We live in a world where destabilizing powers have awakened,” Macron said.

“We are seeing certainties that sometimes lasted for decades being called into question, and Europe is being shaken in some of its certainties,” he said. Europe “sometimes has allies that we thought were predictable, always by our side, who are now causing us to have serious doubts, or even turning on those who doubted the least.”

The decision to dispatch reinforcements to the Arctic territory as early as this week highlights the urgency with which European nations seek to respond to U.S. threats over Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory under the Kingdom of Denmark — which President Donald Trump has stated he needs for national security.

“Russia and China are increasingly using the Arctic for military purposes, thereby calling into question the freedom of transport, communication and trade routes,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. “NATO will not allow this and will continue to advocate for a rules-based international order.”

He added: “For me, it is crucial that we conduct the joint reconnaissance mission in Greenland under Danish leadership.”

The reconnaissance group is visiting the island ahead of the planned “Arctic Endurance” training exercise, UK Defense Minister John Healey told reporters in Sweden on Wednesday. Denmark on Wednesday said the drill with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies would become a permanent fixture.

Germany’s “exploration mission” consists of 13 soldiers. In addition, Sweden is sending “several officers,” Norway two people and the UK one officer. Estonia plans to participate in the planning for the joint Arctic Endurance exercise in Greenland and if Denmark asks, Estonia would be ready to deploy soldiers, Prime Minister Kristen Michal told reporters on Thursday. The Dutch are sending one person, ANP news agency reported.

In contrast, Poland doesn’t plan to send any personnel to Greenland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

These sorts of visits are a routine part of military planning ahead of exercises and operations, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, adding that the UK continues to work with NATO allies on further steps to secure the region.

At stake in the dispute is also the future of NATO, which has provided a collective defense against Russia for much of Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union — and for many Western European countries since World War II.

“I do not believe that having Greenland to be a 51st state or part of the United States enhances our Arctic security. In fact, it might shred the NATO alliance,” said Mike Sfraga, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs under the Biden administration.

“Fraying is already happening. We’re seeing it today,” Sfraga, interim chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Lizzy Burden.

“There are likely many approaches to get to where the president and the administration would like to go — without fraying the alliance, without causing ripples in the alliance and without disenfranchising a long time Arctic and NATO ally,” he said.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she’ll continue to push back against American efforts to take over Greenland. The continued demands from Trump have sparked anger and distrust among Greenlanders and Danes, with protests planned across the major cities on Saturday.

“It was not an easy meeting,” Frederiksen said in written comments on Thursday, referring to talks the previous day by Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

There is still “a fundamental disagreement, because the American ambition to take over Greenland remains intact,” she said, echoing comments from her top diplomat, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, after the talks. “This is, of course, serious, and therefore we will continue our efforts to prevent that scenario from becoming reality,” Frederiksen said.

At Wednesday’s meeting in Washington the diplomats agreed on establishing a working group to discuss how security in the Arctic can be strengthened. Having a direct channel open for communications with the Americans was key for the Danes and Greenlanders.

Still, demonstrations have been announced in Copenhagen, Greenland’s capital Nuuk and three other major Danish cities to send a signal to the U.S. administration that Greenland can’t be annexed or bought.

_____

With assistance from Alan Katz, Ellen Milligan, Wout Vergauwen and Lizzy Burden.

_____