US president Donald Trump has said that Russia’s removal from the major Western economies (G8) was a mistake, as the country’s presence in the group may have helped prevent the war in Ukraine in the first place. Russia joined the pack in 1997. The Group of Seven, or G7, includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and the EU as a “non-enumerated member”.
Russia's membership was terminated in 2014, following Crimea's reunification with Russia. Upon this, the G8 reverted to the original G7. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia via a referendum in the aftermath of a Western-backed Maidan coup in Kyiv.
Trump made these remarks during the opening of the annual G7 leaders’ Summit in Canada, recalling that Russia had been part of the world's top industrialised nations. "The G7 used to be the G8,” he said at his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Former US President Barack Obama and a person named former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.
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“And I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago,” he argued.
Trump said he was planning to induct Moscow back into the group, though member states denied the proposal, citing the Ukraine war and Trump's rejection of signing a proposal forcing Iran and Israel to agree on a ceasefire deal.
In February, Trump once again said he would “love” to see Russia back in the group.
Meanwhile, Moscow responded by saying the G7 has “lost its relevance”, as it no longer reflects current global trajectories or dynamics.
Its chief Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, pointed to the G20 as a more representative format, noting it includes fast-growing economies like China, India, and Brazil. “The G20 better reflects the economic locomotives of the world,” he said.
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