Kremlin unexpectedly reveals why Russia does not want to return to G7
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia does not want to return to the G7 group, because China and India are not included in this group.
“Returning to the G7, which was previously the G8, is not Russia’s goal,” Dmitry Peskov said yesterday, August 22. “In any case, Russia believes that it would be ineffective to discuss global geopolitical, security or economic issues without China and India.”
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| Russian President Putin and US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters |
“Therefore, with other formats, for example, the G20 group, this looks more favorable,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Moscow is ready to cooperate with other countries in any format.
The G7 is an informal group of the world's most economically developed nations, comprising the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France and Japan.
In 1997, the group was renamed G8 after Russia was added.
In 2014, Western countries decided to remove Russia, bringing the group back to the G7 in the context of the increasingly complicated situation in Ukraine and deteriorating relations with Russia.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump unexpectedly declared to reporters that “it would be more appropriate to have Russia in the G8.”
According to a senior US administration official, President Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, spoke by phone and agreed that the Russian president should be invited to attend the G7 Summit in 2020.
According toCNN, Mr. Trump plans to mention this issue at the G7 Summit scheduled to take place in Biarritz (France) on August 24-26.
US President Donald Trump today called on the G7 to readmit Russia. This is considered the first diplomatic grenade that the US leader threw into the club of wealthy Western allies, before the group's upcoming summit in France.
