Greenland crisis as it happened: EU aims for ‘stabilisation’ of trade ties with US, as Trump unveils ‘Board of Peace’

The US is withdrawing its invitation for Canada to join Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative.

Addressing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening, the US president wrote: “Please let this letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.”

The board was initially viewed as a means to end the war in Gaza, but in recent weeks its role in other global conflicts has been discussed.

Countries including France, Norway and Sweden have rejected invitations to join, though the likes of Israel, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia have signed on.

Donald Trump said the US was building up military assets in the Middle East in case he determines he needs to take action in Iran.

“We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he said aboard Air Force One en route to Washington on Thursday.

Trump cautioned that “I’d rather not see anything happen” in Iran, “but we’re watching them very closely”.

He added that the 25 per cent tariffs on all countries trading with Iran would take effect “very soon”.

Trump said he told the Islamic republic that if it had hanged hundreds of people arrested for protesting in the country’s recent unrest, it was “going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It’ll make what we did to your Iran nuclear [facilities] look like peanuts”. Tehran cancelled the planned executions an hour before they were due to take place, he said.

Donald Trump suggested the US would have wide latitude to do what it wants in Greenland, after he agreed a framework for a future deal on the Arctic island with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte at Davos.

Asked if the US would have pockets of sovereignty in the autonomous Danish territory, the president said: “We can do anything we want, we can do military, we can do anything we want and it’s being negotiated.”

Trump, who was speaking aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos on Thursday, added that the US and Nato would work together on Greenland’s security.

“We’ll have something in two weeks. There’s a good spirit to get something done, and we have to have a strong freedom. We have to have the ability to do exactly what we want to do.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has launched a blistering attack on Ukraine’s European allies, accusing them of failing to “take the lead in defending freedom”.

In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, the Ukrainian president said Europe was a “fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers” and looked “lost” trying to convince Donald Trump to force Russia to end its war.

“Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America’s focus shifts elsewhere — Europe looks lost, trying to convince the US president to change,” he said.

The highly unusual criticism followed what Zelenskyy called a “productive and substantive” meeting with Trump in Davos.

The meeting ended without the signing of agreements on Ukraine’s economic recovery and postwar security arrangements that have been negotiated with US officials in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. But agreements were reached on a new air defence package for Kyiv, Zelenskyy said on X.

Late on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, for talks in Moscow on a potential peace plan to end his nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

US and Ukrainian officials have said the meeting will be followed by two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi. Russia has not yet said whether it will participate.

Trump left Davos on Thursday after his decision to dial back threats over Greenland eased fears of a major rupture in transatlantic relations. The US president withdrew his pledge to hit European countries with tariffs following talks with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.

According to three people briefed on the discussion with Rutte, Trump and the Nato chief talked about how a 1951 US-Denmark treaty could better protect the status of American military deployments on the island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday said Copenhagen stood ready to renegotiate the 1951 agreement — provided that its sovereignty was not called into question. She also emphasised on Thursday that Rutte was not negotiating on her country’s behalf.

US markets continued their rise in the wake of Trump’s retreat. On Thursday, the S&P 500 index closed 0.5 per cent higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9 per cent. The Stoxx Europe 600 finished 1 per cent higher.

But on Thursday, Trump threatened “big retaliation” if European countries sold US assets in response to his pressure over Greenland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, for talks in Moscow on a potential peace plan to end his nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

US and Ukrainian officials have said the meeting late on Thursday in the Kremlin, which began shortly before midnight local time, would be followed by two days of trilateral talks at a working-group level in Abu Dhabi. Russia has not said whether it would participate.

Witkoff, who has visited Russia seven times since Trump returned to office last year, earlier on Thursday said the US had made significant progress on the plan, which he added was “down to one issue . . . and that means it’s solvable”.

Putin has praised Trump’s peacemaking efforts but otherwise offered no indication that he would settle for anything less than his maximalist demands to end the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X late on Thursday that he was returning to Ukraine “with agreements on a new package of critically needed air defence for the protection of our people”.

The deal was struck with Donald Trump and the US delegation at the World Economic Forum’s meetings in Davos, a senior official close to the Ukrainian president told the FT.

Further details were not immediately available but Zelenskyy has said his military needs more munitions for the US-built Patriot air defence systems that protect critical infrastructure from Russian air strikes.

The Patriot system is the only air defence system in Ukraine’s arsenal that is capable of shooting down Moscow’s ballistic missiles. Russian strikes have damaged and destroyed much of Ukraine’s energy facilities, plunging Kyiv and other cities into darkness amid the coldest winter since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The UK and Danish prime ministers Sir Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen have agreed that security in the Arctic region was a “matter for the entire Nato alliance”, Downing Street has said. 

The two leaders met at Starmer’s Chequers country retreat on Thursday after US President Donald Trump withdrew his tariff threats against European countries over Greenland a day earlier.

Starmer and Frederiksen agreed “Europe and Nato would continue to drive forward progress” on Arctic security, Downing Street said.

They also discussed deepening UK-Danish security ties, as well as Ukraine, the Middle East and the need to step up co-operation on ways to stem the flow of illegal migration.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he “understands” Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s frustration, after the Ukrainian president earlier in the day attacked his European allies.

“He has been waging a war for almost five years, a terrible war, which continues relentlessly, in which Russia’s aggression is definitely not declining,” Schoof said as he arrived at a meeting of the European Council on Thursday.

“The big question is whether he is willing to make peace. In the meanwhile we are talking with each other, Europe, the US and Ukraine. I understand [Zelenskyy’s] frustration but we are working on it very hard.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Nato members agreed that the military alliance should have a “permanent” presence in Greenland and the Arctic region.

She added Denmark stood ready to renegotiate a 1951 security agreement with the US, provided that its sovereignty is not called into question.

“We need a permanent presence from Nato in the Arctic region including around Greenland,” she said on Thursday, adding: “I think everybody in Nato agrees with that.”

Separately, Denmark and the US would discuss their bilateral relations, including a 1951 security pact, “in a more traditional, political diplomatic way”, the Danish premier said.

“We can discuss our agreement with the US but it has to be in the framework of us as a sovereign state.”

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Europe should aim to “protect” the transatlantic relationship, but Europe could not accept US “domination”.

“Europe should be absolutely united to protect the relationship . . . even if it’s much more difficult than before,” he said ahead of an emergency meeting of EU leaders called last weekend to deal with US threats of tariffs in connection with Greenland, which were since defused.

“We always accepted leadership of the US, it’s something absolutely natural. But this is very important for all of us, to understand the difference between domination and leadership. Leadership is OK,” he said.

Micheál Martin, the Irish taoiseach, said the US and EU now have to step up work on their relationship.

“The relationship between the EU and the US is still a critical relationship, economically, politically, geopolitically,” the Irish premier said as he arrived at the European Council meeting. “Both sides have to work hard to maintain that relationship and to breathe new life into it.”

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen warned that the crisis facing the Arctic island is about the “world order”.

While the territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, is open to discussions with the US, the recent rhetoric from the White House could have an impact on the relationship between Nuuk and Washington, the prime minister said.

The world order was not something “to be gambled on”, Nielsen said, adding: “Talking about acquiring Greenland is, of course, unacceptable.”

He indicated that Nuuk would be prioritising dialogue with Washington through working groups that were agreed to be created after the Greenland and Danish foreign ministers met US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio last week.

Greenland is ready to have a greater military presence, including “a more permanent Nato mission”, in the Arctic territory, its Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said.

Nielsen said Greenland was ready to discuss and co-operate on a basis of respect for its territorial integrity.

He added that discussions about mineral resources were something that could be broached with the US, and that Greenland is ready to “discuss anything” if local legislation and environmental protections were respected.

Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the Arctic country wants to remain with Denmark and warned that sovereignty is a “red line”.

“We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU. We choose Nato,” Nielsen said at a press conference in Nuuk.

He added that Greenland wanted to continue “peaceful dialogue” with Washington but batted down discussion that the US might be seeking sovereignty over pockets of Greenlandic land.

Nielsen said he had not been informed of “concrete” details in the framework agreement announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday and was not aware of any discussions about a mineral deal.

“Greenland continues to be the centre of a serious situation. A situation that we have never wished to be in,” he said.

Greenland’s foreign minister said that there was still “a lot of work ahead of us before we can know we are on safe ground” over the intense US interest in the Arctic island.

Vivian Motzfeldt said that Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte did not negotiate with US President Donald Trump on behalf of Greenland, but conveyed its position and red lines. Trump announced on Thursday that he had reached the framework of a deal with Rutte.

“From my perspective, this is positive news from Davos. That said, we still have our reservations, and there is no doubt that we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can know we are on safe ground,” Motzfeldt added.

Discussions on Greenland are now where Denmark wanted them to be the whole time, according to the Scandinavian country’s foreign minister.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen told public broadcaster DR that now Denmark could “talk to our American allies about what we can do to meet the completely legitimate security concerns they have, which we share with them, while respecting our sovereignty”.

He added that negotiations would soon start and will be led from the Danish side by Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, the permanent secretary of state in the foreign ministry and a former secretary-general of the EU council. Mikkelsen will talk with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

The five Nordic prime ministers have postponed a joint trip to Greenland on Friday designed to show solidarity with the Arctic island under pressure from the US.

Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway’s prime minister, said that a previously undisclosed trip by him and his counterparts from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden would be delayed to a later date after a framework deal between US President Donald Trump and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Greenland.

“In light of the contacts between the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and Nato, the Nordic countries decided this afternoon to postpone the trip to a later date,” Støre added.

A key EU lawmaker has asked for details of a proposed deal on Greenland, crunched between the US president and Nato’s secretary-general, before the European parliament considers ratifying the EU-US trade agreement.

“Hardly any details are known yet about the proposed Greenland deal,” Bernd Lange, chair of the European parliament trade committee, wrote on X, the social media platform.

“But we need them in order to decide how to proceed with the implementation [sic] of the EU-US trade deal.”

Parliament is due to discuss the issue next Monday.

The parliament on Wednesday decided to postpone the ratification of the Turnberry deal reached last summer — before US President Donald Trump reversed his tariff threat against eight European countries.

In a separate briefing on his earlier meeting with Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the talks with his US counterpart were “productive and substantive”.

He said that documents on Ukraine’s security and prosperity were “now even better prepared”, adding there was daily communication between the two countries’ teams.

“We also spoke today about air defence for Ukraine,” he said.

“Our previous meeting with President Trump helped strengthen the protection of our skies, and I hope that this time we will reinforce it further as well.”

US stocks climbed in early trading on Thursday, continuing their rebound after President Trump announced a Nato-brokered compromise over Greenland.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.7 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 0.9 per cent. Both remained slightly below the levels they closed at on Friday.

Meta surged 2.8 per cent and Nvidia rose 1.5 per cent.

“For the market, it was never about Greenland per se. It was always the fallout over the disagreement [between US and Europe]. That is now gone,” said Peter Schaffrik, global macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s partners who have helped it defend its skies with air defences, and for sending parts to help repair its damaged energy infrastructure.

But he asked: “Wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to just cut off Russia from [acquiring] the components it uses for its missiles and drones?”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke “again” with Donald Trump on Thursday about US air defence systems, quipping that he hoped it would not be his “last words.”

“Don’t forget about air defence, don’t forget about Patriots” that defend the country from Russian missiles and drones.

Zelenskyy repeatedly criticised European countries, accusing them of being paralysed by indecision and infighting.

“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he said in a speech at Davos.

Zelenskyy said his European partners looked “lost” trying to convince Trump to change and help bring the war with Russia to a close.

“He will not change. President Trump loves who he is,” Zelenskyy said.

“He says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe.”

Zelenskyy excoriated European countries for sending “30 or 40” troops to Greenland in response to Trump’s threats against the Arctic territory.

“What message does it send to Denmark,” Zelenskyy said. “You risk not being taken seriously because 30-40 soldiers will not protect anything.”

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland sent some three dozen troops to the semi-autonomous territory last week to demonstrate their commitment to securing the Arctic.

Donald Trump said the US would carry out “a big retaliation” if European countries started selling American stocks and Treasuries.

“If that would happen there would be a big retaliation on our part, and we have all the cards,” the president told Fox Business in an interview on Thursday.

A note from Deutsche Bank published on Sunday said that Europe held roughly $8tn of US bonds and equities, making it America’s largest creditor and underlining Washington’s reliance on foreign capital to finance persistent deficits.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that Deutsche Bank’s chief executive had called him to play down the note.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the “backstop of President Trump” is needed as security guarantees are being negotiated among western partners for his war-weary country.

“No security guarantees without the US,” Zelenskyy said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped to finalise agreements on Ukraine’s economic recovery and postwar security during meetings with Donald Trump and European leaders in Davos this week.

The documents, negotiated with US officials ahead of the summit, were instead left unfinished and unsigned.

Trump left the Swiss resort after an hour-long meeting with the Ukrainian president, without the sides committing to any deal, marking a setback for Zelenskyy, who has tried to get his American counterpart to further commit to supporting Ukraine.

Donald Trump has left Davos to head back to Washington after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy that lasted for more than an hour and was not opened to reporters.

The US president was travelling to Zurich airport by motorcade for the flight back to the US.

Donald Trump told reporters at the conclusion of his meeting with President Zelenskyy that the meeting “was good.”

“We’ll see how it turns out. A lot of people are being killed. We hope it’s going to end,” Trump said of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Trump said that he and Zelenskyy did not discuss his “Board of Peace”, which he invited Ukraine to join.

Zelenskyy said earlier in the week that he was hesitant to join because Trump had invited Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has aided Putin in the war.

Donald Trump’s administration is negotiating “total access” to Greenland “at no cost,” the US president said in an interview at Davos.

Trump told Fox Business that while talks over the details are ongoing, “essentially its total access, there’s no end, there’s no time limit . . . we’re getting everything we want at no cost”.

The president said that “a piece” of the Golden Dome, a proposed missile shield for the US, would be on Greenland. “If the bad guys start shooting it comes over Greenland,” he added.

Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump have begun their bilateral meeting in Davos, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.

The leaders are expected to discuss ongoing negotiations over a US-led peace plan meant to bring Russia’s war against Ukraine to an end, as well as a “prosperity plan” to help with Kyiv’s recovery after any ceasefire is achieved.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said Russia is locked into the conflict with Ukraine, despite growing pressure for an end to the war.

“Russia has to continue the war because it is too big to fail,” said Alexander Stubb, speaking at the World Economic Conference in Davos.

He rejected claims that Ukraine is losing the war, describing such assessments as part of a Russian narrative.

“We continue to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia,” Stubb said. “Have faith, Ukraine is going to win this war.”

Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed Donald Trump’s rowback on his Greenland threats as a “good thing”, but warned that the “hard yards” of boosting Arctic security lay ahead.

The UK prime minister said that the geopolitical situation had been “incredibly serious” in recent days, but that London had weathered it with “a mix of British pragmatism, common sense . . . [and] sticking to our values and our principles”. 

Starmer said the Arctic may seem “a long way away, pretty remote” from Britain, but was crucial to the nation’s security. “Now we can start hard yards and finding a way forward on security in the Arctic.”

Donald Trump’s event to launch his “Board of Peace” has ended. The US president said the body could work together with the UN to solve global conflicts.

Along with the US, the countries represented on stage were: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, called for “free market economy principles” to be adopted in Gaza to wean it off its reliance on humanitarian aid.

“85 per cent of the GDP of Gaza has been aid for a long time. That’s not sustainable,” said Kushner.

“It doesn’t give these people dignity.”

Kushner said “we want to use free market economy principles . . . we want to bring the same mindset, the same approach, to a place like Gaza, to give these people the ability to thrive and have a good life.”

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the “Board of Peace” would now “focus” on the Gaza conflict, but that it would be an “example” for “what’s possible for other places and other conflicts that seem impossible to solve right now”.

Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt will reopen next week, Palestinian technocratic committee leader Ali Shaath announced in a video recording played to the Davos audience.

Donald Trump has finished speaking. After the speech, top officials on stage with Donald Trump sat at a white table in pairs and signed the “Board of Peace” documents.

Among the signatories were Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, and Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, two of Trump’s closest allies in global politics.

Donald Trump suggested the UN and “Board of Peace” could work together to solve global conflicts, following criticism that the US president’s new organisation was being set up as a “substitute” to the world body.

“There’s tremendous potential with the United Nations, and I think the combination of the Board of Peace, with the kind of people we have here, coupled with the United Nations can be something very, very unique for the world,” Trump said.

Donald Trump said the US was willing to hold discussions with Iran.

“Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk,” Trump said.

His comment came just days after he came close to ordering new strikes on Iran to support protesters against the regime in Tehran, but eventually the US president backed away.

Donald Trump rattled through the peace agreements and truces he claimed to have mediated during the first year of his second term, a common refrain in many of his recent public remarks.

“Today, the world is richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago. We put out all those fires,” he said, pointing to the Gaza ceasefire deal and the agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, among others.

Donald Trump and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte discussed the renegotiation of a 1951 US-Denmark pact governing the stationing of US troops in Greenland, as part of a deal struck in Davos that saw the US President dial back his threats over the Arctic territory.

Trump and Rutte discussed how the 1951 treaty could better protect the status of American military deployments on the island, according to three people briefed on the discussion, alongside ways to increase US investments in Greenland and give Washington a potential veto over Russian or Chinese projects.

One of the officials said the status of British bases in Cyprus is one model that could be explored as a way to bolster the US presence on the strategically important island.

The deal is not binding and is just a broad framework of issues, two of the officials said, cautioning that negotiations with Denmark and Greenland would ultimately decide how the crisis was resolved.

Trump gave a shout-out to Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, who has been heavily involved in the US president’s effort.

“Thank you Tony for being here, we appreciate it”, Trump said.

Senior officials from 20 countries took to the stage, introduced as founding members of the Board of Peace, before Donald Trump started speaking as “chair” of the board.

They also included Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Along with the US, the countries represented on stage were: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

Donald Trump has arrived at the Davos Congress centre for his “Board of Peace” announcement.

A series of chairs are set up on stage ahead of the president’s appearance, with a big sign saying “Board of Peace” as the backdrop in white letters.

The emblem of Trump’s panel shows a map of just the western hemisphere, with North America, Central America and parts of South America.

The White House has not released a list of members or participants.

Denmark’s prime minister said that her country was “still in a difficult and serious situation” over US interest in Greenland.

Mette Frederiksen said that there had been “some progress” in the meeting between Donald Trump and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, but underscored that Rutte was not negotiating on behalf of Denmark.

“We have now got things where they need to be: namely, that we can discuss how we improve common security in the Arctic area. This is something we have asked Nato to get more involved in,” she added.

She stressed that Denmark’s “red lines” remained “that we do not give up sovereignty”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said Donald Trump made Nato “a lot, lot stronger” by “waking Europeans up to the fact they couldn’t go on having a free lunch”.

Farage was referring to Trump placing pressure on European nations to increase defence spending.

At a fireside chat with Bloomberg in Davos on Thursday, Farage said a Reform government would deepen ties with the US.

Farage was pushed on whether the lesson from this week — in which Trump rescinded his threats to capture Greenland — was that European allies uniting allowed them not to be beholden to the US.

Farage added: “I’m very happy to work with other countries. I love Europe, I love Europeans, I just don’t like Brussels and other terrible autocratic structures that it’s built.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has welcomed talks between the US, Nato and Denmark over Greenland security aimed at agreeing “closer co-operation among allies in the High North and beyond.”

Speaking in Davos, he said it was “good news that we are making steps into that direction.”

“I welcome President Trump’s remarks from last night. This is the right way to go.”

He added: “Tariffs would also undermine the foundations of transatlantic relations if they were put in place. Europe’s answer would be united, calm, measured and firm.”

He said that he was pleased to hear that the US was taking Russia’s threat in the Arctic “seriously.”

“We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the North from the threat posed by Russia. We will uphold the principles on which transatlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

President Donald Trump’s first public engagement of the day in Davos is an event at 10.30am local time to unveil his “Board of Peace” initiative, a nascent and idiosyncratic rival to the UN.

By Tuesday night, roughly two dozen countries had publicly accepted his invitation. A senior White House official said earlier on Wednesday that they expected about 35 countries to participate.

“It’s going to be the most prestigious board ever formed,” Trump promised before the official unveiling. “I have some controversial people on it but these are people that get the job done, these are people that have tremendous influence.”

Britain backs proposals for Nato to establish a new “Arctic sentry” to protect the region, UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said.

London is “putting forward more practical approaches to Arctic security” in the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to row back on his Greenland threats, she told the BBC.

This includes proposing fresh “combined operations programmes” between Nato nations in the increasingly contested region that would amount to a new “Arctic sentry”, Cooper said. Denmark and Greenland proposed the idea.

Last year Nato established new “sentries” — collective frameworks — in the Baltics and on its eastern flank.