Nuuk, Gronelândia
The Danes took reserves of blood, explosives and live ammunition to Greenland as part of contingency plans in case Donald Trump carries out his threats to seize the island.
As tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump reached its peak in recent weeks, the Danish military developed detailed plans to destroy airfieldsin Greenland in the event of an invasion, said on Friday two European officials cited by .
Danish soldiers were sent to Greenland equipped with explosives and blood reservesin a sign of the seriousness of the contingency plans, according to those responsible, who were aware of the plans but said they could not be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The soldiers nnever actually managed to do anything to airfields. But the simple fact that Denmark considered such a scenario shows to what extent the Scandinavian country was alarmedin January, when Trump intensified threats to take control of Greenland, the gigantic Arctic island that has been part of the Danish kingdom for over 300 years.
Trump later softened his tonesignaling that he was willing to reach a compromise on Greenland’s future relationship with the United States, and He then turned his attention to other mattersby starting a war against Iran together with Israel.
DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster, first published information about these plans on Thursday, when the country’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksencampaigns for re-election.
Yours Firm stance against Trump has become one of his main assets electoral votes in the elections, scheduled for next week.
According to DR, when Danish soldiers were deployed to Greenland in January, carried explosives with them to render the landing strips unusable in Nuukthe capital of Greenland, and in Kangerlussuaqa small town in the Arctic Circle.
The report states that such a measure “would stop American military planes to land soldiers on the island if President Donald Trump ultimately chose to for taking Greenland by force“, but omits that the US military maintain their own airfieldo in the extreme northwest of the island, under a defense agreement that the US has had with Denmark for decades.
Security analysts said Denmark’s detailed planning was not surprising.
“Military people naturally think: ‘Okay, what’s the worst case scenario??’”, these Jacob Funk Kirkegaardresearcher at Bruegel, a research institute in Brussels. “Therefore, start with the landing strips and prepare for combat. Okay, blood reserves. Real ammunition. It is what it is,” he said.
According to DR’s report, the Danish soldiers also carried live ammunition. At the time, Denmark stated that it was sending soldiers to Greenland under a broader military exercise with a small contingent of troops from other European countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Norway.
American military officials indicated in January that they had no war plans for Greenland, and it is unclear to what extent Danish intelligence believed the United States was about to invade.
Still, the Danish troops deployed on the island were in a enhanced state of readiness. In mid-January, when tensions were rising, Troels Lund PoulsenDanish Defense Minister, stated that Danish soldiers had orders that “if anyone is attacked, must defend the Kingdom“.
However, he added, “considered entirely hypothetical for the US government to launch an attack on Greenland.”
