Germany has withdrawn a small military reconnaissance team from Greenland as President Trump escalates pressure on Denmark over Arctic security.

It’s been a long-standing Kremlin strategy to drive a permanent wedge between the United States and Europe, dividing and weakening its traditional adversaries in the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Greenland was not "a natural part" of Denmark and that the problem of former colonial territories was becoming more acute. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants full U.

Denmark deploys additional troops to Greenland after President Donald Trump claims the island is not secure from Russia or China.

"NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that 'you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland,'" Trump said, accusing Denmark of being unable to counter it.

Rejecting claims that Moscow covets Greenland, Russia’s top diplomat said the island matters to U.S. security in much the same way Crimea matters to Russia — referring to the Ukrainian peninsula Russia seized in 2014, precipitating its conflict with Kyiv.

Russia also called NATO's military exercises in Greenland "yet another provocation" in the Arctic, as the U.S. moves to take control.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Greenland is not a “natural part” of Denmark, describing the island as the result of a colonial conquest. “In principle, Greenland is not a natural part of Denmark,