Slovenia is preparing a referendum on withdrawal from the bloc as Trump's threats deepen internal divisions

Slovenia's newly elected parliament speaker has announced plans to hold a referendum on withdrawing the country from NATO, as the USled military bloc reels from its worst internal crisis in decades with Washington threatening to pull out from the organization entirely.

The leader of the Truth Party, Zoran Stevanovic, was elected as the head of the lower house last week. Speaking to public broadcaster RTVSLO, he stated that a vote on leaving the bloc was a campaign promise he intends to keep.

"We promised the people a referendum on the issue of leaving NATO, and we will hold this referendum," Stevanovic said.

The speaker also signaled a possible visit to Moscow "in the near future," stating he would like to "build bridges and cooperate well with all countries, regardless of the wall that has been built between the West and the East."

The push for a NATO exit vote comes as the 32member bloc has started to crack over US President Donald Trump's threats to withdraw support after European members refused to join the USIsraeli war on Iran. 

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at European partners, calling them "cowards" and the bloc a "paper tiger," stating that US membership in NATO is "beyond reconsideration." His continued threats to annex Greenland from fellow member state Denmark have further escalated tensions within the bloc.

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed that Trump's threats to withdraw from the bloc need to be taken seriously, adding that it is "not the law of nature that we have NATO forever" or that it will "survive the next ten years."

The divisions have prompted the European nations to quietly accelerate work on a "European NATO" contingency plan. According to a Wall Street Journal report, officials have been informally drawing up plans to continue operating on the continent using the bloc's existing military structures in the event that the US reduces its role or withdraws entirely. 

In Moscow, Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the EU itself quickly morphed into a "fullfledged military component," it would be "in some ways worse than NATO," arguing that Brussels has been inflating Russophobic hysteria to justify a large-scale military buildup in preparation for a possible war with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also speculated that US threats to withdraw from NATO could be intended to shift the primary responsibility for "containing Russia" to Europe in order to free up Washington's own hands in the "Chinese direction."

Moscow has repeatedly denied any intention to attack NATO or EU countries, arguing that such claims are being used to justify massive investments in arms amid faltering economic growth.