Europe digital editor
Getty ImagesThe US has told Denmark to “calm down” after the top US diplomat in Copenhagen was summoned over claims that Americans had been conducting covert operations in Greenland.
Denmark’s public broadcaster DR quoted sources as saying the aim was to infiltrate society and promote its secession from Denmark to the US, although it was unable to clarify who the men were working for.
A White House official would not confirm an influence campaign was underway, but said: “We think the Danes need to calm down.”
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said “any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom [of Denmark] will of course be unacceptable”.
Danish intelligence warned Greenland was being targeted by “various kinds of influence campaigns”.
A US state department spokesperson said Chargé d’Affaires Mark Stroh had met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding he had had a “productive conversation” that “reaffirmed the strong ties” between Greenland, Denmark and the US.
The spokesperson could not comment on “the actions of private US citizens in Greenland”, but said the US had always respected the right of the people of Greenland to “determine their own future”.
US President Trump has said several times he wants to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Vice-President JD Vance has accused Copenhagen of underinvesting in the territory.
On a visit to Greenland a few months ago, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned the US that “you cannot annex another country”.
Denmark’s foreign minister said in a statement to the BBC that the government was “aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark”.
“It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead,” he added.
Denmark is a member of Nato and the European Union and has long seen the US as one of its closest allies, and Danes have been shocked by Trump’s determination to control its semi-autonomous territory. The US president said this year he would not rule out seizing it by force.
Denmark’s PET security and intelligence service said in its assessment that influence campaigns would aim to “create discord in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland”.
This could be done by exploiting “existing or invented disagreements” either with “traditional, physical influence agents or via disinformation”, it added. PET said it had strengthened its presence in Greenland and co-operation with its authorities.
The US currently has no ambassador in Copenhagen, so Rasmussen has summoned Mark Stroh, who as charge d’affaires is the most senior diplomat in the Danish capital.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen has already summoned the US charge d’affaires in Denmark this year in response to a separate report in May suggesting US spy agencies had been told to focus their efforts on Greenland.
DR’s report on Wednesday gave details of a visit by one American to Greenland’s capital Nuuk, saying he was seeking to compile a list of Greenlanders who backed US attempts to take over the island. The aim would be to try to recruit them for a secession movement, DR said.
The earlier May report in the Wall Street Journal also referred to learning more about Greenland’s independence movement, as well as attitudes to American mineral extraction.
At the time, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not deny the report but accused the Journal of “breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy”.
Greenland has a complex relationship with Denmark. Despite having broad self-government since 1979, its foreign and defence policy is made in Copenhagen.
Although most of its political parties favour independence, they disagree on how quickly they should push for it. While Greenlanders have had the right to call a referendum since 2009, polls suggest the vast majority of them have no wish to become part of the US.
When US Vice-President JD Vance visited a US military base on the island in March, he accused Denmark of not doing enough to keep US troops and Greenlanders safe from Russia, China and other countries that he said were interested in its potential mineral wealth and Arctic naval routes.
However, Greenland leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen made clear in May that the US would not be taking over the territory: “We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.”
The Danish foreign minister’s latest decision to summon the US charge d’affaires amounts to a “diplomatic yellow card” unprecedented in Danish relations with the US, according to Jens Ladefoged Mortensen of the University of Copenhagen.
“This hostile attitude towards Denmark from the Trump administration is shocking,” he told the BBC. “As a pro-American country we’re asking why are you doing this.”
One of Denmark’s biggest companies has already been caught in the crosshairs of the US government in recent days, following an order to stop the construction of a big wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.
The Revolution Wind project, already 80% complete, is being run by Danish multinational wind farm developer Orsted, which is 50.1% owned by the Danish state.
It is the latest wind power initiative to be targeted by President Donald Trump, who said last week “we’re not doing the wind”.
Shares in Orsted plummeted 16% on Monday in response to the so-called stop-work order, although they have since clawed back some of the losses.
The company says it has already installed 45 out of 65 turbines in the project aimed at providing power for 350,000 homes.
