Denmark’s foreign minister has summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen after the country’s national broadcaster reported that three people linked to President Donald Trump had been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Citing government and security sources, the broadcaster, DR, said three Americans close to the president had been compiling names of Greenlandic citizens who supported Trump’s plans to take over the island, and who might be willing to join a secessionist movement.
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The report said the sources believed the goal of the operation was to “penetrate Greenlandic society in order to weaken relations with Denmark from within and make the Greenlanders submit to the United States.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen confirmed in a statement to the Associated Press that he had summoned Mark Stroh, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Copenhagen, adding that “any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom [of Denmark] will of course be unacceptable.”
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“We are 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 said.
The broadcaster did not publish the names of the three Americans who were alleged to have been carrying out the operation, but described one of them as having been “seen in public with the US president many times” and “recently been appointed to a role that could give him influence over US security policy.”
The other two have “regularly traveled back and forth between Greenland and the United States in recent years,” and have previously worked under Trump.
The report added that all three men’s activities were closely monitored by the Danish government.
The U.S. currently has no ambassador in Denmark. A charge d’affaires is a diplomat who serves as chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador.