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Arne O. Holm says:
While 30,000 Soldiers Practice War, Greenland and Svalbard Are Used in an Actual War
Comment: Right now, 30,000 soldiers are preparing for war in the Arctic. The Cold Response exercise has its impact on Northern Norway and Finland. But a real war is also taking place in the North, in which Svalbard and Greenland plays a key role.
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This is a comment written by a member of the editorial staff. All views expressed are the writer's own.
The drawing on the cover of the French satirical magazine Charles Hebdo portrays a dying, drug-addicted Ukrainian president receiving a significant amount of money from Donald Trump. The money has been stolen by the US president from Greenland.
Fake Charlie Hebdo
It looks real at first glance. Charlie Hebdo's tart irony often has readers choke on their coffee. The caricature is apparently signed by one of the magazine's famous artists. On another of the magazine covers, we see Volodymyr Zelenskyy sending his best soldiers to Greenland.
The only problem is that none of these covers are real. They are pure forgeries, not easily detectable to the untrained eye. In reality, they are part of the hidden, hybrid warfare that surrounds us every day. Weapons have been exchanged with fake websites, manipulated TV recordings, or, as portrayed, fake covers of a magazine that became world-renowned after a brutal terror attack against its editorial staff in 2015.
12 of the editorial staff members were killed.
"The methods used in this case, fake news sources, manipulated videos, abuse of serious sources, and dissemination from Russian proxy actors are completely in line with our understanding of Russian doctrine and methods based on years of empirical mapping," says Eskil Grendahl Sivertsen.
A dying, drug-addicted president.
He is a special advisor at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and an expert on what is called cognitive warfare and influence operations. Sivertsen specifies that he has not seen the methods and background material of the examples you can read about in this case.
Many examples
And there are many examples, including those that show how events in the Arctic are deliberately exploited for propaganda purposes. This time, the company SecAlliance has delved into how Trump's claim on Greenland was used in digital warfare.
"Very sophisticated methods are used by Russia. For a period, Greenland was used to create as much uncertainty and confusion as possible," says Sam Collard and Natasia Kalajdziovski.
They are both Senior Threat Intelligence Analysts in SecAlliance.
They tell me that the techniques, measurements and channels of communication follow a closely observed pattern observed in previous Kremlin-related operations all the way back to 2014. Therefore, they can be attributed to Russia with high probability.
According to Eskil Grendahl Sivertsen, there are several examples of such influence operations being based in the Arctic and the High North.
Svalbard
"In 2022, Russia created quite a commotion by exploiting a real incident related to Svalbard. Due to the sanctions against Russia, Norwegian authorities could no longer allow Russia to transport goods to Barentsburg via Tromsø. Norway offered to collect the goods at Storskog and load them onto Norwegian trailers. Alternatively, Russia could transport them itself from Murmansk. This was the starting point for a dramatic theater in several acts, in which Russian state-controlled media, proxy actors, and officials claimed that 'Russophobic' Norway was starving the Russian people in Barentsburg. The matter received international media coverage, which Russia exploited to question Norway's sovereignty over Svalbard and threatened to withdraw from the delimitation agreement. The issue quickly passed, but the danger has not," says Sivertsen.
The use of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is not the only example SecAlliance found based on the conflict over Greenland.
The first element that appeared was a video, seemingly produced by the renowned journalism organization Bellingcat, an independent press organization that specializes in uncovering war crimes, among other things.
Fake video
The video claimed that Ukraine had to sign a peace agreement immediately because Western military forces would be moved to Greenland and could no longer contribute to the defense of Ukraine.
"A fake video such as this has several purposes," says Collard and Kalajdziovski.
Almost any Western political dispute is turned into a tool.
"This fake use of fact-checkers such as Bellingcat has two purposes. One is to support the claims, the other is to undermine the fact-checkers' credibility. The aim is, among other things, to create an impression of a threatening conflict within NATO, while also portraying the support for Ukraine as fragile and temporary."
On a pro-Russian channel on the digital services X and Telegram, a video was posted claiming that Ukraine had agreed with Germany and France to send between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers to Greenland to fight against the USA. In this case, by incorrectly, of course, using the BBC as a source.
The Danish TV company TVNord was exploited to claim that Denmark would withdraw its F-16 aircraft from Ukraine and relocate them to Greenland. According to SecAlliance, authentic footage from the TV channel was used, but with manipulated audio.
The Danish TV company TVNord was misused to make claims that Denmark would withdraw its F-16 planes from Ukraine and move them to Greenland. According to SecAlliance, authentic footage from the TV channel was used, but with manipulated audio.
Such operations, which in Russian doctrines are called 'information confrontation', are an important power-political instrument, explains Eskil Grendahl Sivertsen.
Political power instrument
"The goal is described as 'reflexive control,' which includes influencing target groups to think and act in line with Russia's interests without being aware of it themselves. The expression, methods and measures vary depending on the topic, target groups and region, but are always anchored in Russia's strategic aims. In the West, they try to weaken support for Ukraine, and strengthen doubt, conflict and mistrust in and between Western countries. In the global south, they try to weaken trust in the West and position Russia as a friend, partner and political ally. In Ukraine, they attempt to weaken the will to defend and the trust in authorities, and in Russia, they try to create false legitimacy for Russia's war of aggression and obscure their own war crimes. The operations are often long-term, with opportunistic exploitation of real events, like the examples in this case. Russian operations do not necessarily aim to make us believe in lies, but to make us doubt what is true and who we can trust," says Sivertsen.
Two Arctic island communities, Greenland and Svalbard, are central in this Russian propaganda war, disguised as facts through the misuse of reputable news channels.
"One thing I think not many understand is the strategic significance of such statements. For several years, Russia has, on and off, challenged Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard and accused Norway of being 'Russophobic,' hypocritical, aggressive and unreasonable, while Russia acts responsibly and fairly. By doing so, they have established a narrative with a long history and many sources, which can be used at some point in the future to create false legitimacy for more serious political and military actions against Norway and Svalbard if they could benefit from it," says Sivertsen.
This point is also underscored by Serafima Andreeva, a researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, in an interview with High North News. In her analysis of possible threats from Russia, she points out the hybrid.
A tool for disruption
The examples found by SecAlliance, according to Sam Collard and Natasia Kalajdziovski, demonstrate the strength of Russian information operations.
"Speed, adaptability, and the capacity to turn almost any Western political dispute into a tool for strategic disruption."
The Norwegian Intelligence Service often refers to the general influence activity that takes place around us. Its latest annual report, FOKUS 2026, begins with saying that the activity aims to 'create uncertainty and fear, influence political engagement or change attitudes and decisions in another state, both among the population and the authorities."
Serious political or military moves against Norway and Svalbard.
What does this look like from the official Russia?
Not surprisingly, quite different.
"Norwegian authorities manipulate their own population," was the message. The report from the intelligence service was "full of unfounded accusations against our country".
The relationship with Greenland was also commented on.
"What on earth does Russia or China have to do with this? What do our countries have to do with Greenland? How have Russia and China influenced this crisis? What have we done? We have not come anywhere near it. It is their problem, a problem they have created entirely by themselves," said Zakharova, among other things.
She might at least be right about that.
