A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing to hold a meeting of up to 57 nations about European security in South Carolina rather than Serbia next year, ​highlighting a spat among congressional Republicans and Washington’s complex relations with the Balkan country. The proposal would relocate the 2027 annual session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe—a grouping that has focused in recent years on managing the ⁠fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—to take place next summer in Charleston, South Carolina, rather than in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital.

Lawmakers on both sides of the debate have made many logistical arguments unrelated to geopolitics, but the divide is linked to a broader debate in Washington regarding Serbia. The balkan country is a significant buyer of Russian energy and has declined to join Western sanctions against the U.S. adversary, leading some dismayed and seeking a more confrontational posture toward it. Whether the resolution proposing the venue change will move forward remains unclear.

Full report: US lawmakers lobby to hold European security meeting in South Carolina, not Serbia.