COPENHAGEN: A bipartisan US congressional delegation on Saturday sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support following President Donald Trump’s threat to punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US taking over the strategic Arctic island.
Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the current rhetoric around Greenland is causing concern across the Danish kingdom. He said he wants to de-escalate the situation.
“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” Coons said in Copenhagen, adding that the US has respect for Denmark and NATO “for all we’ve done together.”
Meanwhile, thousands of people marched through Copenhagen, many of them carrying Greenland’s flag, on Saturday afternoon in support of the self-governing island. Others held signs with slogans like “Make America Smart Again” and “Hands Off.”
“This is important for the whole world,” Danish protester Elize Riechie told The Associated Press as she held Danish and Greenlandic flags. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”
Other rallies were planned in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, and elsewhere in the Danish kingdom.
Coons’ comments contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a US takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force.
“There are no current security threats to Greenland,” Coons said.
Trump for months has insisted that the US should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.”
During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland, too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.
He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.
European leaders have insisted it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.
“There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark,” Coons said. “If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?”
US congressional delegation seeks to reassure Denmark and Greenland after Trump’s threats
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US congressional delegation seeks to reassure Denmark and Greenland after Trump’s threats
- “I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” Coons said in Copenhagen
- Thousands of people marched through Copenhagen on Saturday afternoon in support of the self-governing island
Russia investigates care home deaths in new Siberian health scandal
- The state Investigative Committee said professional lapses by staff had contributed to a mass outbreak of a viral infection that led to 46 people being hospitalized
- At least three people died as a result of the illness and six other deaths were under investigation
MOSCOW: A criminal investigation into patient deaths at a neuropsychiatric care home in Siberia has found that staff failed in their duties, Russian authorities said on Thursday, in the second health scandal to hit the region this month.
The state Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said professional lapses by staff had contributed to a mass outbreak of a viral infection that led to 46 people being hospitalized. At least three people died as a result of the illness and six other deaths were under investigation.
The care home is just outside the city of Novokuznetsk, where the deaths of nine newborn babies in the space of nine days shortly after the New Year sparked outrage across Russia and spurred a criminal investigation into negligence.
In the latest case, the Investigative Committee said staff were being questioned, medical records had been seized and forensic tests were under way to determine the cause of the infection’s spread.
The investigation is into “sanitary violations resulting in the deaths of patients.”
The regional health ministry said earlier this month it had detected 46 cases of influenza type A among a sample of 128 residents of the care home, while two more people tested positive for pneumonia.
Those who died included a 21-year-old woman with cerebral palsy and a 19-year-old man, according to regional authorities.
Ilya Seredyuk, governor of the Kuzbass region of Siberia, called the news was devastating, and said a commission formed by the regional government had been working on site since January 24.
“Materials requiring review have been sent to law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Kuzbass is a heavily industrial region of about 2.6 million people that accounts for much of Russia’s coal production.
Average life expectancy there in 2023 was about 70.2 years, well below the national average of 73.1 and compared with an average of 81.5 in the European Union.
Official data released this month shows deaths from respiratory diseases among working-age people in Kuzbass rose between 2022 and 2024, while overall mortality rates were higher and fertility rates lower than federal averages.
