President Trump criticizes the West for excluding Russia from the G8

According to TASS, US President Donald Trump said that he considered the removal of Russia from the G8 (Group of 8 high-tech countries) a "very stupid decision" by the West. However, Mr. Trump said that the time to restore this format has passed.

"I know President Barack Obama didn't like it and they voted to exclude Russia from the G8. I'm not going to say 'if,' but I think it was a very stupid decision. If there was a G8 and Russia was in it, I think we probably wouldn't have the terrible war that's going on right now. It was a very bad decision," President Trump told reporters during a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the White House on May 6.

Referring to the possibility of reviving the G8, Mr. Trump said: “I don't think now is the right time. We missed that opportunity, right? We missed it, it was another great decision by some people who should not have made the decision."

Russia was once a member of the G8 before being "boycotted" by the bloc's countries and turned into the G7 in 2014. The G7 group, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, condemned Russia for its disagreements in the crisis in Eastern Ukraine, as well as Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Previously, US President Donald Trump had repeatedly criticized the removal of Russia from the group and proposed the idea of ​​restoring the G8 during his first term. After taking office for a second term, President Trump declared on February 13 that removing Russia from the G8 was a mistake. He continued to call for Russia's return to the G8.