USA wants new bases in Greenland

Astri Edvardsen
greenland

In recent months, the US has held regular consultations with Denmark and Greenland about expanding its military presence in Greenland, anonymous US officials told BCC.

According to BBC sources, the US wants to establish three bases in southern Greenland to monitor Russian and Chinese maritime activity. The closed Narsarsuaq air base is mentioned as a possible option. Washington D.C. has also proposed that these should become sovereign US territory, one of the sources said.

“We will not give away a stamp of our territory. That would be a red line,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen (Demokraatit) told Danish TV2 on Tuesday.

Nielsen also stated that he could envisage an increased US presence in Greenland.

The US desire for access to three new areas on the island became known in March when the head of the US Northern Command, General Gregory M. Guillot, spoke at a hearing in the Senate Defense Committee.

Powered by Labrador CMS