Russian diplomacy expressed "serious concern" regarding the announced dispatch of additional NATO troops to Greenland after a meeting at the White House between Danish, Greenlandic and American leaders, reported Agence France-Presse and TASS, quoted by BTA.
"Instead of carrying out constructive work within the framework of existing institutions, in particular the Arctic Council, NATO has chosen the path of accelerated militarization of the North and is strengthening its military presence there under the fabricated pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing", said a statement from the Russian embassy in Brussels, where the headquarters of the Atlantic alliance is located.
"We see that the resonant statements from Washington on the topic of Greenland are being used by the alliance exclusively to push an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese agenda", the embassy noted to the "Izvestia" newspaper. "So, calls are already being heard from the Europeans to surround the island and send some large-scale collective landing".
"Talks have begun about a new operation "Arctic Guard", conceived by analogy with the already ongoing Baltic and Eastern "guards", frankly aimed at containing Russia," the Russian diplomatic department adds.