Trump’s Greenland annexation threats overshadow Ukraine security conference

The coalition’s watchword Tuesday at the voluntary meeting on Ukraine in Paris appears to be: expect the unexpected.

That was clearly the mood as leaders from around 30 countries, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, gathered in the French capital.

As European leaders tried to understand the implications that U.S. military action in Venezuela would have on efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine, Carney was dealing with the political fallout from Chrystia Freeland’s acceptance of an advisory role to the Ukrainian government while she was still a member of Parliament.

The former minister will be a special, unpaid economic advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She was Canada’s envoy to Ukraine for reconstruction, but she resigned from her post and will soon leave as an MP.

But by far the capture and planned prosecution of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores under US law is the event that has shaken European leaders on the eve of discussing specific security guarantees for Ukraine.

Adding to this unease, US President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland to Denmark in an interview with The Atlantic. One of his top advisers, Stephen Miller, refused to rule out the use of military force in an interview with CNN.

“I have to say this very directly to the United States: it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded on social media.

“First of all, I think the American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland. But I also want to make it clear that if the United States chooses to militarily attack another NATO country, then everything will stop. That is, including our NATO and therefore the security that has been ensured since the end of World War II.”

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that European leaders know the United States needs Greenland.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Carney tried to stay focused on Ukraine and wouldn’t bite when asked if he was concerned about threats of U.S. military force in Greenland.

“We stand with Denmark, we stand with Greenland,” Carney said. “Our closest partnership is with the United States. And we will work with everyone to make sure we move forward together.”

A number of other countries, however, have expressed their full support for Denmark’s continued control of the Arctic territory.

“Denmark is a very close ally of the United Kingdom, both in Europe and within NATO. And it is very important that we are clear on the principles applicable here in Greenland,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said before the meeting. “The Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland, and no one else.”

A measured response

Carney is expected to meet separately with Frederiksen and Finnish President Alexander Stubb on the sidelines of the meeting in Ukraine.

But European Union leaders are unlikely to want to address the Venezuela issue directly in the coming days, for fear of angering Trump and his delegates in Paris — and perhaps jeopardizing U.S. support for the coalition and Ukraine.

Carney took a measured response to Maduro’s arrest, emphasizing that Canada had not recognized Maduro’s “brutally oppressive and criminal regime” since the 2018 elections that many in the international community say were stolen from the opposition.

Carney hailed “the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity for the Venezuelan people,” who have the “sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society.”

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on several US political broadcasts on Sunday that the transition to democracy was on hold for now and that Washington would work with Maduro’s subordinates. He said the reality is that many Venezuelan opposition figures have fled the country and it will take time to reestablish their presence.

Both Trump and Rubio invoked the Monroe Doctrine: or the “Donroe Doctrine,” as Trump now calls it – which asserts that Washington has the right to exercise authority over the Western Hemisphere.

Trump, in his remarks on Greenland, claimed that Russian and Chinese ships were circling the island territory.

Russia used similar logic to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

It remains an open question whether Trump’s actions in Venezuela, which has one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, will further embolden Moscow.

A U.S. defense expert said he believes there is momentum for a ceasefire in Ukraine, regardless of last weekend’s events.

“Russia has a reason to pause the fighting right now and re-equip its forces,” said Matt Schmidt, an associate professor and national security expert at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and a former instructor at the U.S. Army War College.

“It took enormous losses in personnel and equipment to replace them. And that’s why he must finally come to the negotiating table or win the war quickly.”

Coalition leaders hope to craft specific security guarantees for Ukraine that would deter Russia from simply using the ceasefire as a break.

Leaders will also focus on reconstruction.