Russian disinformation exploits Trump’s Greenland push to weaken NATO

By Elías Thorsson February 26, 2026
2874
Fake media reports and manipulated broadcasts were circulated online in January as part of a coordinated campaign exploiting tensions over Greenland.

On January 13, clusters of bot-like social media accounts began circulating claims that the investigative outlet Bellingcat had reported Germany’s armed forces were developing war scenarios for Greenland in anticipation of a potential U.S. invasion.

A professionally edited video accompanied the posts, falsely attributing comments to Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins. The clip alleged Higgins had said Ukraine should urgently sign a peace agreement because Western military attention would soon shift toward a confrontation in Greenland.

No such report exists. Higgins made no such statement.

A fake story distributed by the Kremlin about German troops preparing for U.S. invasion of Greenland.

The video appeared amid sustained geopolitical tension over U.S. President Donald Trump’s forceful and repeated efforts to bring Greenland under American control — a policy he has continued to press despite firm rejection from Greenlandic and Danish leaders.

Within days of the first video, the disinformation escalated.

On January 15, coordinated posts on X and pro-Russian Telegram channels circulated a video bearing BBC branding. The clip claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had concluded a secret agreement with Germany and France to deploy 5,000–10,000 Ukrainian soldiers, without insignia, to Greenland to confront the United States.

Screenshot from the fake BBC report, which claims Ukraine has agreed to send up to 10,000 troops to Greenland for a potential military confrontation with the U.S.

The video again falsely attributed Bellingcat as the investigative source.

    This was a complete fabrication. No such BBC video appeared on the broadcaster’s official platforms. The production relied on forged branding and professional-style editing to create the illusion of authenticity.

    According to a February 10 report published by SecAlliance, a London-based cyber and threat intelligence firm, these back-to-back fabrications were were a part of a disinformation campaign conducted by pro-Kremlin networks to sow mistrust among NATO allies during a period of heightened Arctic tension.

    “The aim wasn’t necessarily to make people believe a single false story,” said Sam Collard, one of the report’s authors. “It was to plant a broader perception that Western alliances are fragile, that support for Ukraine may not last, and that allies ultimately act in their own interests.”

    Collard says that the campaign was clearly aimed at Western audiences, as shown by its impersonation of trusted Western institutions such as BBC, Euronews, Institute for the Study of War and Bellingcat.

    Fact Box

    Fabricated content identified in January campaign

    • Fake Bellingcat video: alleged German military planning for Greenland in anticipation of a U.S. invasion.
    • Forged BBC clip: claimed Ukraine would deploy 5,000–10,000 troops to Greenland to confront the United States.
    • Manipulated Danish TV broadcast: suggested F-16 fighter jets would be withdrawn from Ukraine and redeployed to Greenland.
    • Fabricated Euronews report: falsely alleged coordinated protests by Ukrainian refugees across Europe and the U.S.
    • Fake Institute for the Study of War video: falsely presented as an official ISW publication.
    • Fake Charlie Hebdo covers: counterfeit magazine illustrations linking world leaders and the Greenland dispute.
    Reality: None of the above reports were authentic and none appeared on the official platforms of the organizations named.

    The SecAlliance report assesses that the Greenland episode forms part of Russia’s wider hybrid campaign against Western states — combining covert online influence operations with overt diplomatic messaging and state-aligned media amplification to weaken cohesion inside NATO and the European Union.

    Rather than relying solely on conventional military confrontation, such tactics are designed to erode trust, intensify political divisions and undermine institutional credibility over time.

    “In this case,” Collard said, “it supports efforts to shift perceptions of the Arctic away from a cooperative, rules-based space toward one shaped by competition and mistrust — where Western unity appears uncertain.”

    By portraying Germany, France, Ukraine and the United States as maneuvering independently — and even secretly — over Greenland, the fabricated narratives were crafted to deepen suspicion among NATO allies.

    The SecAlliance findings demonstrate a concerted Russian effort to show the western alliance as weak, sow distrust in fact-checking organisations and Western news outlets and portray Europe as aggressive, disjointed and unstable.

    Danish broadcast manipulated

    The campaign did not stop at impersonating international outlets.

    On January 17, a pro-Russian Telegram channel circulated what appeared to be a report from Denmark’s regional broadcaster TV2 Nord. In the altered video, a presenter was made to appear as if she were announcing that Denmark planned to withdraw F-16 fighter jets previously transferred to Ukraine and redeploy them to Greenland in response to Trump’s statements.

    The SecAlliance report found that the video used authentic footage from TV2 Nord, but replaced the original audio with fabricated narration. Somewhat comically and indicative of the video being produced outside of Denmark, the reporter in the video speaks in Dutch, not Danish.

    A fake Danish broadcast was circulated that claimed Denmark was demanding Ukraine return donated F-16s. Confusingly, the reporter in the video spoke Dutch.

    Davos and strategic timing

    The timing of the campaign was no accident.

    The fabricated videos began circulating roughly one week before the World Economic Forum in Davos and peaked on January 18–19 — the eve and opening day of the summit — when global leaders and media attention were focused on transatlantic tensions, Ukraine and Arctic security.

    Greenland featured prominently during President Trump’s address at Davos, where he reiterated his demand for U.S. control or a negotiated “deal” over the territory, framing it as essential to American and NATO security. The speech drew renewed reactions from European leaders already wary of Washington’s pressure campaign.

    By flooding the information space in the days leading up to and during Trump’s Davos remarks, the campaign maximized its potential to amplify perceptions of division within the alliance at a moment of intense global scrutiny.

    “Operations like this are opportunistic,” Collard said. “When attention intensifies, the objective is to inject confusion and amplify perceptions of division.”

    SecAlliance recorded an estimated 3 million total reach across mainstream social platforms in January, with the sharpest spike aligning with the Davos window.

    Greenland an emerging information battleground

    The disinformation campaign unfolded alongside overt messaging from Russian officials framing Greenland as an internal Western dispute while highlighting perceived NATO fractures.

    The SecAlliance report concludes that the convergence of overt rhetoric and covert digital activity reflects a layered strategy: publicly profess neutrality while working to intensify division among Western allies.

    As Arctic geopolitics intensifies Greenland has become more than a territorial issue. It is increasingly part of the information dimension of geopolitical competition.

    “If geopolitical attention returns to Greenland,” Collard warned, “further disinformation activity is highly likely. The Arctic should increasingly be seen as an emerging information battleground.”