After talks with a senior US general last week, the head of Denmark's Arctic command said that the prospect of a US takeover of Greenland does not keep him awake at night, but more needs to be done to deter a possible Russian attack on the Arctic island, Reuters reports.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that the United States could acquire Greenland, a vast semi-autonomous Danish territory located on the shortest route between North America and Europe, which is key to the US ballistic missile warning system.
Trump did not rule out the possibility of taking in the territory by force, and in a congressional hearing this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not deny that such contingency plans exist.
Such a scenario is "absolutely not on my mind", said Soren Andersen, head of Denmark's Joint Arctic Command, days after his first meeting with the general in charge of U.S. defense in the region.
"I sleep great at night", he assured. "Militarily, we work together, as we always have.".
U.S. General Gregory Guyot visited the U.S. space base "Pitufik" in Greenland on June 19 and 20 for the first time since the U.S. transferred oversight of Greenland to the Northern Command from its European command.
Andersen's remarks were the first since his talks with Guillot, which coincided with Danish military exercises in Greenland featuring one of the country's largest military presences since the Cold War.
Russian and Chinese state-owned ships have made unexpected appearances around Greenland in the past, and the Trump administration has accused Denmark of failing to protect it from potential invasions. Both countries have denied having any such plans.
Andersen said the threat level to Greenland had not increased this year. "We don't see any Russian or Chinese state ships here," he reported.
Denmark's permanent presence consists of four aging inspection ships, a small surveillance plane and dog-sled patrols tasked with monitoring an area four times the size of France.
Previously focused on demonstrating its presence and civilian tasks such as search and rescue and fisheries inspection, the Joint Arctic Command is now shifting more towards territorial defense, Andersen explained.
"Greenland is actually not that difficult to defend," he noted. "There are relatively few points that need to be defended, and of course we have a plan for that." NATO has a plan for this".
As part of military exercises this month, Denmark deployed a frigate, F-16 fighters, special forces and additional troops, and also increased surveillance around critical infrastructure. They will leave the island next week when the exercises end, Andersen said, adding that he would like to repeat them in the coming months.
"To keep this area free of conflict, we need to do more, we need to have a credible deterrent", he said. "If Russia starts to change its behavior around Greenland, I need to be able to act on that.".
In January, Denmark pledged more than $2 billion to strengthen its Arctic defenses, including new Arctic naval ships, long-range drones and satellite coverage. France has offered to station troops in Greenland, and the EU's top military official has said it makes sense to station troops from EU member states there.
About 20,000 people live in the capital, Nuuk, while the rest of Greenland's 57,000 population is spread across 71 towns, mostly on the west coast. The lack of infrastructure elsewhere is itself a deterrent, Andersen said.
"If, for example, there is a Russian naval landing on the east coast, I think it wouldn't be long before such a military operation would turn into a rescue mission," he said.