BRUSSELS — Some NATO allies are resisting a U.S. effort to set up a close-knit group of alliance countries ostensibly based on their defense spending, arguing the initiative risks undermining unity just when Russia steps up its hybrid campaign in Europe.
The frustration comes after POLITICO reported that Washington had met a select group of favored allies twice since the spring in what has been dubbed the “Bergen Group,” after the collective’s first meeting in the eponymous Norwegian city earlier this year.
So far, the group’s members have included Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. After meeting in Bergen, the U.S. organized a similar meeting on the sidelines of the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara in July, which Denmark and Turkey also attended. Members of the group are expected to meet again in Poland next month.
Yet another party Canada wasn’t invited to.
