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Russia said it is seriously concerned by the arrival of NATO forces in Greenland, a mineral-rich Arctic island that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly said Washington should acquire for national security reasons.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel to Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, as part of a reconnaissance mission.
The announcement followed a meeting in Washington between United States, Danish and Greenlandic officials that failed to dissuade Trump from his stated ambition to take control of the island.
Trump has argued that Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, is vital to U.S. security interests and has warned that if Washington does not secure it, “China or Russia will.”
“The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us,” the Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, said in a statement published late Wednesday.
The embassy accused NATO of “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 issued an official statement on the deployment. Analysts note that statements from the Kremlin typically carry more weight than comments from individual embassies.
Both NATO and Russia have expanded their military footprints in the Arctic in recent years as melting sea ice opens new shipping lanes and access to natural resources, including minerals and hydrocarbons.
Trump’s repeated remarks about Greenland have placed an unusual strain on NATO, an alliance that has formed the backbone of Western security since World War II.
Internal disagreements within the alliance over Greenland are making NATO’s decision-making process “increasingly unpredictable,” the Russian embassy said.
The Arctic has emerged as a growing arena of geopolitical competition, with Western officials citing concerns over Russian and Chinese activity, while Moscow has accused NATO of destabilizing the region under the guise of security.
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