Denmark’s foreign minister had the highest U.S. diplomat within the country summoned for talks after the predominant national broadcaster reported Wednesday that a minimum of three individuals with connections to President Donald Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Trump has repeatedly said he seeks U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, an unlimited, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. He has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically situated Arctic island.
Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S., and Greenland have said the island isn’t on the market and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there.
Danish public broadcaster DR reported Wednesday that government and security sources which it didn’t name, in addition to unidentified sources in Greenland and the U.S., imagine that a minimum of three Americans with connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations within the territory.
One among those people allegedly compiled a listing of U.S.-friendly Greenlanders, collected names of individuals against Trump and got locals to indicate cases that may very well be used to forged Denmark in a nasty light in American media. Two others have tried to nurture contacts with politicians, businesspeople and locals, in accordance with the report.
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An influence operation is an organized effort to shape how people in a society think with the intention to achieve certain political, military or other objectives.
DR said its story was based on information from a complete of eight sources, who imagine the goal is to weaken relations with Denmark from inside Greenlandic society.
DR said it had been unable to make clear whether the Americans were working at their very own initiative or on orders from another person. It said it knows their names but selected to not publish them with the intention to protect its sources. The Associated Press couldn’t independently confirm the report.
“We’re aware that foreign actors proceed to indicate an interest in Greenland and its position within the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in an announcement emailed by his ministry. “It’s subsequently not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the longer term of the Kingdom within the time ahead.”
“Any try and interfere in the inner affairs of the Kingdom will after all be unacceptable,” Løkke Rasmussen said. “In that light, I actually have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires for a gathering on the Ministry.”
Cooperation between the governments of Denmark and Greenland “is close and based on mutual trust,” he added.
The U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen directed queries on the problem to Washington.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service responded to a request for comment by saying it believes that “particularly in the present situation, Greenland is a goal for influence campaigns of assorted kinds” that might aim to create divisions in the connection between Denmark and Greenland.
It said it “assesses that this may very well be done by exploiting existing or fabricated disagreements, for instance in reference to well-known individual cases, or by promoting or amplifying certain viewpoints in Greenland regarding the Kingdom, america, or other countries with a selected interest in Greenland.”
The service, known by its Danish acronym PET, said that in recent times it has “repeatedly strengthened” its efforts and presence in Greenland in cooperation with authorities there, and can proceed to achieve this.
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