US invites five NATO countries to Poland, excluding France and Britain — Euronews

US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby is holding talks in Poland with representatives of Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands on defense capabilities and the future of NATO. France, the United Kingdom and the Baltic states were not invited to the meeting, Euronews reports.

The Bergen Group

The format is called the Bergen Group, after the location of its first meeting in Norway last year. It was created to discuss the future of the Alliance within the framework of the NATO 3.0 model proposed by the United States. It envisages Europe taking on the leading role in the continent’s conventional defense.

The model also envisages reducing the United States’ traditional role as the leading provider of defense capabilities for Europe, including the withdrawal of bombers, submarines and personnel that Washington provides to the Alliance.

NATO has downplayed the significance of the separate meeting, noting that allies often work in smaller formats. At the same time, Fabrice Pothier, chief executive of geopolitical consulting firm Rasmussen Global, said that such an approach could be toxic for the Alliance, which relies on collective action. In his view, selecting individual countries could create the impression that the United States favors certain allies.

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Absence of the Baltic states

Particular attention was drawn to the absence of the Baltic states, which spend a significant share of GDP on defense and are on the Alliance’s frontline in the confrontation with Russia. According to the outlet, the region faces hybrid attacks, including drone incursions, arson and sabotage.

After Colby’s visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels in August, Alliance sources said that he had urged Baltic officials to use less confrontational rhetoric regarding the aggression of Russia, the aggressor state. One source claimed that Colby linked this to renewed US efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

According to Euronews, the Lithuanian government invited Colby to visit the region and personally observe airspace violations. On Saturday, Vilnius Airport suspended operations for about an hour due to suspected drone incursion from Belarus, after which two NATO aircraft were deployed.