Danish foreign minister calls Greenland military deployment an “extraordinary situation”

Denmark’s foreign minister has described the deployment of Danish troops to Greenland in January as an “entirely extraordinary situation,” following a report by public broadcaster DR that soldiers were sent to deter a potential attack.

Speaking to DR, Lars Løkke Rasmussen declined to confirm operational details but acknowledged the unusual nature of the mission. “Around the new year, the situation was completely extraordinary. There was no absolute exclusion of the idea that military force might be used to realise this presidential ambition of taking over Greenland,” he said.

Rasmussen argued that a combination of Danish government measures had “de-escalated the situation—for now.” However, he cautioned that US President Donald Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland had not faded. “Personally, I have no doubt that it remains the president’s ambition that the US—and thus the world, from his perspective—would be better off if Greenland were American,” he stated.

The foreign minister stressed that Denmark’s diplomatic efforts in Greenland would continue regardless of Tuesday’s general election. “Vivian Motzfeldt [Greenland’s foreign minister] and I agreed with the US secretary of state and vice president to launch a high-level dialogue, and that work is underway,” he said, adding that meetings had already taken place.

Rasmussen rejected claims by Sten Rynning, a war studies professor at the University of Southern Denmark, that NATO had been critically weakened by the episode. “I still believe we have a viable NATO,” he said, countering Rynning’s assessment that the alliance was “in intensive care.”

The minister also noted that Danish diplomats in Greenland and Denmark were operating under a “very strong mandate,” backed by cross-party support in the Folketing (Danish parliament).