COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Nordic diplomats on Sunday rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims of Russian and Chinese ships operating near Greenland, the Financial Times reported.
There have been no indications of Russian or Chinese ships or submarines operating around Greenland in recent years, the Financial Times reported, citing two senior Nordic diplomats with access to NATO intelligence briefings.
“It is simply untrue that Chinese or Russian forces are present there. I have reviewed the intelligence — there are no ships and no submarines,” the newspaper quoted one senior diplomat as saying.
Another Nordic official dismissed claims that waters surrounding Greenland were teeming with Russian and Chinese vessels, noting that such activity has instead been confined to Russia’s side of the Arctic.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that Russian and Chinese vessels are operating near Greenland, a claim that Denmark has firmly disputed. Trump has so far offered no evidence to substantiate his assertions.
On Friday, Trump said the United States must acquire Greenland — an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark — to prevent Russia or China from gaining control of the strategically located, mineral-rich island.
“The image that’s being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not correct,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said earlier this week.
Vessel tracking information from MarineTraffic and LSEG shows no evidence of Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland.
The Greenlandic assembly announced late on Friday that it would bring forward a meeting to discuss how to respond to US threats over potential control of the island.
US President Donald Trump’s renewed push to assert influence over Greenland, coming after the United States’ military intervention in Venezuela, has unsettled many of the island’s roughly 57,000 residents, who broadly aspire to full independence.
