Danish PM says Trump’s pressure on Greenland is ‘totally unacceptable’ — Munich conference latest
Mette Frederiksen also warned that she believes Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace in Ukraine
Donald Trump’s “pressure” on Greenland is “totally unacceptable, the Danish prime minister has told the Munich Security Conference.
Mette Frederiksen has said she thinks “unfortunately” the US president remains “very serious” about acquiring the Danish territory, following threats to annex it.
“I think the pressure on Greenland is totally unacceptable,” she said. “We are talking about threats.
“The people of Greenland have never been threatened before by anyone,” she said, adding that there would be little compromise from Greenland, Denmark, and Nato allies.
Earlier at the conference, Britain blamed the Kremlin for killing opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which it said was likely done using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin.
Two years on from the death of Mr Navalny, the UK and its allies have pinned the blame on the Russian state following analysis of material samples found on his body, saying it was likely conducted using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin.
The Kremlin has always denied causing Navalny’s death, but the UK and its allies said that "only the Russian state had the combined means, motive and disregard for international law" to carry out the attack on the Russian opposition leader.
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Danish PM: Nato must be able to tackle multiple crises at once
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has said Nato must be able to tackle more than one crisis at once, in reference to threats in the Arctic circle and Ukraine.
She said: “We have to be able to tackle more crisis at the same time, because the old world is not coming back. And I mean, and everything is interlinked. So the war in Ukraine has never been about Ukraine. Yeah, it's those who are suffering, but it's about Russia, and it's about Russia's imperial dreams.
“The same goes for the Arctic region. This is not about the Arctic region, it's about Russia's imperial dreams, the hybrid war against Europe that is going on every day has to be tackled at the same time as the war in Ukraine and the Arctic.”
Alaskan senator: It's been 'offensive' the way the US has behaved towards Greenland
Alaskan senator Lisa Murtowski, a Republican, has criticised the United States’ approach to Greenland.
She said: “In my view, it has been offensive, this view that we can... that the United States can come in and say, ‘we want this to to a sovereign territory’.
“That's not how how major powers should act. This is not the way the United States should lead when it comes to the Arctic.
“This is not how we should lead when we are trying to build our alliances in an area that is so very necessary now.”
Alaska senator: Threat from Russia 'very real' to Alaskans
Alaskan senator Lisa Murtowski has said Russia’s threat is “very real” and is “every day”.
“For us in Alaska, it is very real. It is every day. It is two miles, two miles between Little Diomede, which is us, and Big Diomede, which is Russian, 57 miles from from from basically the shoreline of Alaska to the shoreline of Russia. So it is real. We see it, we feel it. And I think the geography hasn't changed.
She continued: “The threats have changed because we have seen the warming temperatures due to climate change that are opening up these avenues of commerce, that we are seeing.
“The threats to infrastructure that we had previously built up in the Arctic, that are now challenged. We are seeing changes to this threat because of this combined operation or cooperation between Russia and China.”
Denmark PM: Pressure from the US on Greenland is 'totally unacceptable'
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has called the United States’ desire to own Greenland an “unacceptable” pressure.
Asked if she believed US president Trump still wanted to own Greenland, she said: “Unfortunately, I think the desire is is the same. It's something we, of course, talk a lot about. And I would also add that I think the pressure on Greenland is totally unacceptable.
“We are talking about threats. But as you often say, Jens Feige, the people of Greenland have never been threatened before by anyone.
“So I think the pressure is unacceptable. I think we have been very clear from Greenland and Denmark, and, by the way, from all of our allies, Canada in Europe and good friends in us, that there are, of course, things that you cannot compromise on our basic values.
“The cornerstone, I mean, of our democracy is of course the respect of other states, sovereignty and territorial integrity. And by the way, a people's right for self determination.”
China is working with Russia mapping in the Arctic circle, says Alaska senator
Lisa Murkowski, senator for Alaska, has said China is working closely with Russia to do research and mapping in the region.
“We're seeing China up in the Arctic doing research or mapping, whatever it is they may say they're doing, but the new factor here is what is happening together in cooperation with Russia, whether it is the joint bomber operations that we are seeing flying over the North that we are sending firefighters to intercept, whether it is the Coast Guard and naval vessels that are operating jointly.”
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Anita Anand: Russia's infrastructure is getting closer to the Arctic circle
Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand reflected on the threat of Russia in the Arctic circle, warning that Vladimir Putin’s “infrastructure” has moved closer to the region since the war in Ukraine began.
“So after the illegal and unjustifiable further invasion of Ukraine in 2022 we have seen Russian infrastructure move further and further north towards the Arctic Circle.
“The geopolitical environment is shifting rapidly, and that is one way in which it is doing so. From Canada's perspective, we have the second largest country in the world, 40 per cent of our land mass interfaces with the Arctic. 70 per cent of Canada's coastline interfaces with the Arctic.
“So this is a very real and important shift in the geopolitical environment that we must acknowledge, in addition to climate change, which is melting the polar ice caps and making transition through the Northwest Passage, for example, much different than it has been in previous decades.”
Greenland PM: We're willing to take on more responsibility and welcome NATO Arctic sentry plans
Prime minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said his territory is willing to take on more responsibility in order to welcome the NATO Arctic sentry.
“We are also very happy to have the NATO Arctic sentry in Greenland. I think it's a step in a really good direction.”
He reflected on the threat of Russian and Chinese ships around Greenland, adding: “It's not now, but we also we are not naive, and we see the longer perspective, when our routes in the North West and the Northeast, they melt, there might be more traffic.
“The most important thing is that that we will do more, and we are willing to lift our responsibility in Greenland to to make that happen with our allies in the NATO alliance.
“It's very important for me to say the Arctic sentry and the NATO alliance, it's something that we are truly committed on as Greenlanders, so Trans Atlantic cooperation and international rule of law and so on and so on. That's that's deeply in our values.”
Mette Frederiksen: We've asked for NATO to be a permanent presence in and around Greenland
Prime minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen says Arctic circle countries have asked for NATO to be a permanent presence in and around Greenland.
It follows recent concerns that the United States might annex Greenland.
“We are very satisfied that NATO is now into working with security in the Arctic region in a more structured way,” she said. “We have, by the way, asked for this for several years. But as you know, there's been this idea about low tension.
“It sounds very nice on a paper, but it doesn't reflect reality and the world that we are living in, unfortunately. So what we have suggested NATO is to be permanent present in the Arctic region, also in and around Greenland.
“Now we have Arctic sentry as a framework. We have to put substance into it. The good thing about Arctic sentry is that it's a flexible way of working. So it can be changed. It can be moved. It can be on a high level. It can be on a lower level.”
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