NATO allies raise alarm over US meetings with selected invitees, including Sweden

"We are trying to understand what criteria exist and what the purpose of these meetings is," a diplomat from one of the NATO countries that has not been invited to an upcoming meeting in Poland next month told the news site Politico Europe.

The meeting is a continuation of the so-called Bergen format, named after Bergen in Norway, where US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby met with representatives from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Poland this summer to discuss future issues.

Countries that were not invited are now concerned that the US is "splitting" the alliance and are warning of the consequences.

It is dangerous for the United States – but an existential issue for Europe, a diplomat told Politico.