Denmark Seeks Permanent NATO Presence in Greenland as Arctic Tensions Persist

Overview

• At the Munich Security Conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urged a permanent NATO footprint in and around Greenland and called for alliance capability targets to explicitly include the Arctic.
• Frederiksen said President Donald Trump still intends to acquire the island and condemned pressure on Nuuk as unacceptable.
• NATO launched Operation Arctic Sentry on February 11 to help reduce strains linked to Greenland and recent U.S. moves.
• Denmark, Greenland, and the United States have formed a trilateral working group to address U.S. Arctic security concerns, with no public details yet.
• Frederiksen and Greenland’s Jens-Frederik Nielsen met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich, a discussion Nielsen described as constructive.