Top US diplomat summoned by Denmark over reported covert influence operations in Greenland

On Wednesday, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, claimed American citizens with alleged links to Donald Trump were attempting to influence the future of the region, the Financial Times reports.

Rasmussen summoned America's most senior diplomat in Denmark, Mark Stroh, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Copenhagen, for a meeting over the reports.

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Since Trump became president of the US in January, he has made clear his desire to make Greenland part of the US.

The semi-autonomous territory is part of the kingdom of Denmark, with the Scandinavian nation - and the people of Greenland - both making it crystal clear Greenland is not for sale.

This hasn't deterred Trump, and in May the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president "continues to remain committed to the idea of obtaining Greenland in whatever means we can to advance our national security interests in the region.”

Now, a new report from DR, the Danish public broadcaster, has said Danish authorities were aware of at least three US citizens with alleged links to the Trump administration gathering information in Greenland and conducting influence operations.

This comes after the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that a classified message was sent to American intelligence agencies urging them to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who support Trump’s aims to take over the island.

Addressing the latest reports, Rasmussen said in a television interview: “It’s important that we gain some insight into this so that our people — in both Greenland and Denmark — know what it is that we risk being up against.”

On Wednesday, Denmark’s security and intelligence service (PET) said Greenland is "the target of influence campaigns of various kinds."

They added: "PET expects that such campaigns have the purpose of creating a split in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland."