NATO may send troops to Greenland in response to Trump threats

Nato countries discussed deploying troops to Greenland in response to Donald Trump threatening to use the US military to seize the Danish island, News.Az rpeorts citing The Telegraph.

Germany was among dozens of European allies understood to have held informal talks over “what Nato troops would do” if the US president followed through on his threats, diplomatic sources told The Telegraph.

Questions were even raised over whether Article 5, the Western military alliance’s mutual defence clause, could be invoked in the event of an American invasion of a fellow Nato member state.

It came after Mr Trump started his second term in the White House openly considering a forcible takeover of Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark.

The US president has said it would be an “unfriendly act” if Copenhagen refused to give up the Arctic island while Russia and China both push to bolster their presence in the area.

Berlin’s involvement in the clandestine discussions has attracted criticism from some of Nato’s most ardent backers of Kyiv given the refusal of Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, to consider a deployment of troops to Ukraine.

“Berlin doesn’t want to send troops to Ukraine because the situation is ‘too ambiguous’ but is openly flying kites about sending Nato troops to Greenland,” a Nato diplomat told The Telegraph. “It’s a moral compass without a needle.”

Robert Brieger, an Austrian general in charge of the EU’s military committee, said that it would send a “strong signal” to deploy Brussels-led forces to Greenland.

Mr Trump’s remarks have prompted divisions among European nations over how to react without causing a transatlantic crisis.

Mr Scholz has been Europe’s most vocal critic of Mr Trump over Greenland, declaring “borders must not be moved by force” as an international principle, addressing his words in English to “whom it may concern”.

But Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, has urged allies not to respond to the US president to avoid exacerbating the current tensions.

The premier, who has welcomed US security concerns over the Arctic, promised to boost Denmark’s military presence on Greenland but insisted the island is not for sale.

She has embarked on a European tour to privately secure the backing of EU member states and Nato allies, including a stop at Downing Street for talks with Sir Keir Starmer.