Russia says concerned by NATO deployments in Greenland

MOSCOW: Russia said it was seriously concerned by the arrival of NATO forces in Greenland, a mineral-rich island in the Arctic that US President Donald Trump has threatened to seize.

France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel to the island’s capital Nuuk as part of a reconnaissance mission.

The announcement came after a meeting between US, Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington failed to deter Trump’s ambition of taking the island.

Trump argues Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, is vital for US security and that if Washington does not take it “China or Russia will”.

“The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us,” the Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, said in a statement published late Wednesday.