BERLIN, January 18. /TASS/. The Bundeswehr claims that the German military has fulfilled their task as part of the mission to Greenland.
"We have completed our initial task - to analyze the situation as part of the initiative of holding drills and exercises," Lt. Col. Peter Milevchuk, a spokesman for the German mission said in an interview with the Funke media group. He described cooperation with the Danish military as "very positive and constructive."
"As I have said, we studied the situation here and generally fulfilled the task. Now we are returning home with results achieved," he added.
Bild newspaper reported earlier, citing its sources, that Bundeswehr servicemen stationed in Greenland unexpectedly received orders from Berlin on Sunday morning to urgently leave the island. According to the newspaper, 15 soldiers and officers led by Admiral Stefan Pauli are were due to depart on an Icelandair flight. The newspaper claims that the Bundeswehr’s advance group was given no explanation by German authorities for the sudden departure. All the planned activities on the ground have been canceled. No official statements have been made, and everything is being done under conditions of secrecy, Bild noted.
It had initially been expected that the Bundeswehr personnel, who arrived in Greenland on Friday, would remain there for a longer period. The newspaper does not rule out that they are leaving the island in haste following US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose additional tariffs on Germany and a number of other European countries over Greenland.
Trump warned earlier that the United States would impose 10% tariffs on the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Finland, France, and Sweden, which will remain in force until agreements are reached on "the full and final acquisition of Greenland" by Washington.