US President Donald Trump on May 7 called the decision to exclude Russia from the G8 (Group of Eight) association made by the West in 2014 a foolish decision, but the time to restore this format has already passed.
“Russia used to be a member of the so-called G8. I don’t think I was really involved in politics at the time, but I know that President [US President Barack] Obama didn’t like it and they voted for Russia’s withdrawal. <…> That, in my opinion, was a very stupid decision,” Trump said, speaking at a meeting of the International Football Federation (FIFA).
According to the head of the White House, if Russia had remained as a member of the G8, the whole world would have been able to avoid some of the existing problems.
Speaking about the resumption of the former G8 composition, Trump noted that now the time to invite Russia to join the current G7 collective has passed. This happened, as the American leader noted, due to the omission of some people who, in his opinion, should not have been involved in decision-making at all.
Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin noted on March 18 that Russia has no intention of returning to the G8. He emphasized that despite the many sanctions imposed, Russia is not in isolation from the rest of the world. Trump on February 13 stated his desire to restore the G8 so that the Russian side could sit at the negotiating table along with other representatives of the association.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 18 that the designation “G7” does not correspond at all to the actual modest size of the G7 countries. He added that the European Union, whose economy is based on the three G7 member states, did not register any growth in GDP: it increased by only 0.9%.