UK, France and Baltic states excluded from Pentagon-led NATO talks

US President Donald Trump administration has reportedly excluded the UK, France and the Baltic states from a Pentagon-led meeting in Poland focused on NATO’s future.

The meeting, expected next month, will be led by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, Politico reported, citing six diplomats familiar with the plans.

Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands are expected to attend. Britain, France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have not been invited despite playing major roles in NATO and spending heavily on defence.

Colby has previously held two meetings in the same smaller format with the invited countries.

The reported exclusions have raised concerns among some diplomats about divisions within NATO.

“If they try splitting Nato into the good ones and the bad ones, it is dangerous for the US. But for Europe, this is existential,” one diplomat told Politico, according to The Guardian.

A diplomat from an invited country told Politico the smaller group was not intended to divide NATO, but to develop proposals that could later be considered by the full alliance.