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The Danish military sent explosives and blood supplies to Greenland in January as part of contingency planning for a US attack, as tensions with Donald Trump escalated over his push to take control of the Arctic island.
Two European officials on Thursday confirmed a report by DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster, about how the Nordic country tried to raise the cost for Trump if he tried to use force to take control of Greenland. France and Germany backed Copenhagen in this approach, the officials said.
“We were very worried this was going to go really wrong,” said one European official about Trump’s repeated threats over Greenland in January.
Danish troops dispatched to Greenland at the start of the year took enough explosives to destroy the island’s main runways near the capital Nuuk and at a former fighter base in Kangerlussuaq, DR reported. They were also given blood supplies in the event of combat.
The plans underscore the seriousness with which Trump’s threats against a Nato ally were viewed, not only in Denmark but across Europe.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: “We have been in the worst foreign policy situation since the second world war. The only reason we are today in a better situation . . . is because we have European co-operation.”
The conflict was eventually defused by Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, a veteran European politician who convinced Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos to accept the outline of a “future deal” with Denmark over Greenland.
Fredriksen said high-level negotiations were continuing with the Americans over a potential compromise that respected Denmark’s and Greenland’s red lines on sovereignty. “I hope for an agreement, but as I have said, Trump’s desire to take over Greenland remains intact,” she said.
Denmark and several other European countries including France, Germany and the Nordics sent troops to Greenland in January under cover of a planned military exercise, which officials in Copenhagen said had notified to the US Defence Department.
But the real reason, according to the DR report, was to prepare for a possible US attack and to ensure that any takeover of Greenland would have to be hostile.
“The French were incredibly helpful,” a second European official said. “They understood straight away that we needed a plan.”
Trump — flush from his success in toppling Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro — reacted badly to the move, threatening to impose extra tariffs on Denmark and the other countries involved.
“After Venezuela, they thought they could walk on water. Let’s take this thing, and this country,” said a third European official. “That fear has not dissipated but it’s not so present.”
DR spoke to 12 top government, military and intelligence officials in Denmark as well as France and Germany about how preparations were stepped up after Trump’s Venezuelan incursion.
“Greenland has not gone away. It’s only sleeping,” said one former Danish minister.