Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the US Embassy’s top diplomat in Copenhagen, Mark Stroh, on Wednesday following media reports of covert American influence operations in Greenland.
At least three people connected to the Donald Trump administration are said to be conducting covert influence operations in Greenland, according to Danish public media DR reports, amid the US president’s repeated calls to annex the Danish territory,
Since taking office in January, Trump has not shied away from his ambition to acquire control of Greenland, a claim that Greenlandic and Danish officials have openly rejected.
In a comment to the reports, Danish intelligence services wrote that “Greenland, particularly in the current situation, is the target of various types of influence campaigns.”
According to DR, one of the three people made a list of Greenlanders who support Trump during a recent visit to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. The list was allegedly intended to identify potential recruits for a secessionist movement in Greenland and Denmark.
Speaking at the reports, Løkke Rasmussen said, “I am not surprised.”
He added that the purpose of the conversation with Stroh, who currently leads the US mission in Copenhagen, is to make clear that any involvement by the US administration in influence campaigns would be “contrary to all international rules.”
The US Embassy did not immediately respond to Euractiv’s request for comment.
In May, media reports suggested that the US was stepping up intelligence operations in Greenland to monitor the island’s independence movement and identify individuals sympathetic to American overtures.
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not explicitly deny the allegations.
Trump has nominated tech investor and PayPal co-founder Ken Howery to be the next ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, although Howery has yet to be confirmed by the US Senate.
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