Russia once floated the idea of the U.S. acquiring Greenland in a forged fundraising letter sent to Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton nearly five years ago, according to Danish intelligence.
Newsweek contacted the Kremlin and the Trump-Vance transition team for comment by email on Monday.
Why It Matters
The accusations resurfaced on social media over the weekend, days before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. In the last few weeks, Trump has renewed his interest in the U.S. acquiring Greenland, a semi-autonomous island that is part of Denmark and home to a U.S. Space Force base.
What To Know
Danish intelligence accused Russia of forging a letter from Greenland’s foreign minister to Cotton in October 2019, during President-elect Donald Trump‘s first term in office.
The letter purportedly sent by Greenland’s foreign minister to Cotton asked the senator for money to fund a referendum on Greenland’s independence from Denmark.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service ultimately concluded in 2022 that the 2019 letter was forged, with Russia the likely culprit. An intelligence report from Denmark assessed that Moscow wanted to sow discord between Denmark, the U.S. and Greenland. Moscow refuted the allegations in an email to Reuters.
Cotton himself in August 2019 said he raised the idea of the U.S. acquiring Greenland with Trump.
On January 7, Trump said at a press conference that the U.S. needed Greenland for “national security purposes.” The island, which has a population of about 56,000, is strategically located in the Arctic Circle and is rich in natural resources.
What People Are Saying
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service in January 2022: “It is highly likely that the letter was fabricated and shared on the internet by Russian influence agents, who wanted to create confusion and a possible conflict between Denmark, the USA, and Greenland.”
Sen. Tom Cotton told CNN in August 2019: “In the last few years, China has repeatedly tried to gain a strategic foothold in Greenland, by offering to buy a former U.S. military base there and through a financing scheme for airport construction. Purchasing it would keep it out of the hands of both the Chinese and the Russians. It is rich in national resources with untold economic potential and already extremely important to U.S. national security.”
Writer Dean Gloster said on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday: “Reminder: The ‘plan’ to buy Greenland was cooked up by Putin’s GRU during the first Trump administration to divide NATO and normalize taking land without its citizens’ consent. They faked a letter to… Sen. Tom Cotton to get the thing going.”
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede told Reuters in December: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
What Happens Next
Trump is likely to continue raising the prospect of Greenland’s annexation when he enters the White House.
He suggested earlier in January that he wouldn’t rule out using military force to gain control of the semi-autonomous island, however, given that it is part of Denmark, a NATO member, this could trigger Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty. The article can be invoked when any member of the military alliance deems the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of any member state to be threatened.
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