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(CNN) — Several NATO countries are deploying small numbers of military personnel to Greenland to participate in joint exercises with Denmark as US President Donald Trump ramps up his threats to forcibly annex the Arctic island.
Trump’s declarations have thrown Europe’s decades-old, US-led security alliance into crisis, by raising the prospect of NATO’s largest and most powerful member annexing the territory of another.
Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland’s defence, has warned an attack on Greenland would all but end NATO, and announced on Wednesday that it was expanding its military presence “in close cooperation with NATO allies.”
Germany, Sweden, France and Norway have all since confirmed they are sending military personnel to Greenland this week. Canada and France have also said they plan to open consulates in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, in the coming weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that a French military team was “already on the ground” and would be reinforced in the coming days with “air, sea and land components.”
It is not unusual for NATO countries to send troops to train in other NATO countries, and there has been a years-long push by allies, including the US, to ramp up joint exercises in the Arctic Circle. The US has about 150 troops stationed at its Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland.
But both the timing and symbolism of the latest announcements by European nations are a significant show of solidarity at a time of unprecedented tension within NATO.
Trump has been extremely vocal about his ambitions to seize control of the world’s largest island, including by force if necessary, saying he was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” during a press conference with oil executives on Friday.
In a statement Wednesday, the German Defence Ministry said it was sending a “reconnaissance team” of 13 military personnel to Greenland Thursday for “an exploration mission” alongside other partner nations, at Denmark’s invitation.
Sweden also sent an unspecified number of troops to Greenland Wednesday at Denmark’s request, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on X. The Swedish officers will be part of a group of troops from other allied countries who will together prepare for an upcoming exercise called Operation Arctic Endurance, he added.
Norway is also sending two defence personnel to Greenland, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Ministry of Defence confirmed to CNN.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a longstanding military alliance between 30 European states as well as the US and Canada.
It is built on the principle that an attack on any one member must be considered an attack on them all, which is what makes US threats against Greenland – which is part of NATO by its association with Denmark – so extraordinary.
The Danish defence minister called a potential US attack on Greenland “completely hypothetical.”
It is “unlikely that a NATO nation would attack another NATO country,” Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
Meetings with Trump officials
News of European deployments to Greenland came as Danish and Greenlandic officials met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance Wednesday, hours after Trump said on Truth Social “anything less” than US control of Greenland is “unacceptable.”
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote early Wednesday, arguing US control of Greenland would also benefit NATO.
That meeting yielded few tangible results, with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen noting that he and his Greenlandic colleague had “a frank but also constructive discussion” with Rubio and Vance, but that a “fundamental disagreement” persists.
Still, Rasmussen said the parties have agreed to form “a high-level working group to explore if we can find a common way forward” that is expected to meet in the coming weeks.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on X Sunday she called her Greenlandic and Danish counterparts to “reiterate Canada’s steadfast support for the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Anand said she will travel to Greenland “in the coming weeks” to open Canada’s official consulate in Nuuk and convey Canada’s “deep commitment to regional security and protection” in the Arctic.
France will open a consulate in Greenland on 6 February, a move that has been in the works since last year, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on RTL radio Wednesday, according to Reuters news agency.
Barrot urged the US to stop threatening Greenland, Reuters reported.
“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense, it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States … and so this blackmail must obviously stop,” Barrot said on RTL.
