Russia has expressed concern over the arrival of NATO personnel in Greenland, an Arctic territory of Denmark that has gained strategic attention amid rising geopolitical tensions.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway said on Wednesday they would deploy military personnel to Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, as part of a reconnaissance mission. The deployment follows a meeting in Washington between U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials that failed to ease tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his interest in bringing the island under U.S. control.
Trump has argued that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, saying it could otherwise fall under the influence of China or Russia.
“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 late Wednesday. It accused NATO of expanding its military presence under what it called a pretext of threats from Moscow and Beijing.
Neither the Kremlin nor Russia’s foreign ministry has commented. NATO and Russia have both expanded Arctic activities as melting ice increases access to shipping routes and natural resources.
