Reuters: After tensions with Trump over Greenland, NATO may launch new Arctic mission

NATO is expected to launch a mission in the coming days that could strengthen its surveillance and military capabilities in the Arctic, Reuters reported, citing five people familiar with the matter. This comes after tensions between U.S. president Donald Trump and European allies regarding Greenland.

NATO's Arctic Sentry mission could be launched as early as this week when alliance defense ministers meet in Brussels, three European diplomats, a military official and a person briefed on the matter said.

The mission may include military exercises, increased surveillance, and the deployment of additional ships and aircraft to the region, including drones, the diplomats said.

However, officials said that Arctic Sentry is likely to focus on more efficient use of Alliance resources in the region, rather than on bringing in a large number of new forces.

An unnamed NATO official told Reuters that the mission is "part of the Alliance's efforts to further strengthen our deterrence and defense in the region, especially given Russia's military activity and China's growing interest in the Far North."

According to him, the mission is expected to start its activities soon.

Last week, the Alliance reported that it began planning the mission, after negotiations at the World Economic Forum in Davos between Trump and the NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, that eased serious disagreements over the US president's ambitions to acquire Greenland, a self-governing island within Denmark.

Officials said that a final decision on the mission had not yet been made and that military planners were still working on options.

However, the supreme allied commander Europe and head of the U.S. European Command Alexus Grynkewich said on February 9 that the planning was in the final stages.

The commander said that the next day he would be briefed by the Allied Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, USA, on the mission planning.

"If the brief goes well ... we might have something that we can announce later this week on how we're moving forward on that," Grynkewich said.

• In January, amid threats from Trump, a number of allied countries announced that they would send a limited number of military personnel to Greenland for Danish exercises. In response, the US president decided to impose tariffs on these countries, but changed his mind after negotiations with the NATO secretary general.
• At the end of the month, president Zelenskyy assumed that the geopolitical situation around Greenland, which provoked a crisis in relations between Denmark and the United States, could be used to "recognize" Ukrainian territories as Russian.