Danish intelligence on Friday accused Russia of being behind a disinformation campaign which falsely claimed that a Danish lawmaker was seeking Russian aid to prevent the United States from annexing Greenland.
Social media posts circulated in January claimed that the Danish member of parliament Karsten Honge wanted to prevent Denmark鈥檚 autonomous territory of Greenland from breaking free from Denmark and said his country should ask Russia for help.
The posts included a doctored image showing a Facebook post by Honge, which the politician quickly denounced as 鈥榝ake news鈥� in a post to X.
The Danish Defence Intelligence Service said Friday that in their assessment Russia was behind the campaign.
鈥楾he fake post originally came from an influencer who has previously promoted Russia鈥檚 agenda in Ukraine,鈥� FE said.
It added that it had received information from the French anti-disinformation authority, Viginum, that the influencer 鈥榠s part of an influence network acting on behalf of the Russian state.鈥�
FE said the campaign 鈥榮hould be viewed as part of the ongoing influence operation in which Russia is trying to create a rift in the transatlantic relationship and undermine Western support for Ukraine.鈥�
It added that it was less likely that the campaign was intended to affect the outcome of the Greenlandic election held in March.
US president Donald Trump has expressed his ambitions to control Greenland, insisting Washington needs control of it for security reasons.
He has refused to rule out the use of force to secure the Arctic island, straining relations between Washington and Copenhagen.
