Denmark prepared to sabotage Greenland’s airstrips using explosives and flew in blood supplies amid fears of a potential U.S. invasion earlier this year, according to a new report by Danish public broadcaster DR.
The measures were said to be part of a contingency plan that included deploying troops to the island in January with explosives for possible runway demolition, aimed at preventing U.S. aircraft from landing, EuroNews said.
The measures were outlined in a Danish military operations order dated Jan. 13, which DR said it had reviewed.
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The preparations came as tensions escalated over President Donald Trump’s statement that the U.S. should control Greenland for national security reasons.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen repeatedly rejected Trump’s demands to acquire the island.
DR said it based its report on 12 sources within the highest levels of the Danish government and military, as well as sources among Denmark’s allies in France and Germany, the BBC said.
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"When Trump says all the time that he wants to buy Greenland … we had to take all possible scenarios seriously," an unnamed Danish military official told DR.
Denmark and several European allies also deployed troops to Greenland under what was a NATO exercise called Arctic Endurance.
In reality, according to the sources cited by DR, the deployment was operational.
Soldiers arrived equipped not only with standard military gear but also with the medical supplies and the explosives, the report said. France, Germany and Sweden also took part in the January deployment.
Despite the preparations, Danish authorities sought to avoid escalation with Washington.
Trump announced a vague "framework" agreement on Greenland with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Jan. 21, though details remain unclear.
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At the World Economic forum in Davos Trump said: "I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland."
On March 17, the commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Gen. Gregory Guillot, said, "We are working with Denmark through the Department of State to expand some of the authorities that are in the 1951 treaty to give increased access to different bases across Greenland."
"As we look at the increasing threat and the strategic importance of Greenland. But everything that we're doing through NORTHCOM is through Greenland and through Denmark," he added at the House Armed Services hearing on U.S. military posture and national security challenges in North and South America.
