The future reintegration of Russia into the elite G7 group of the world’s rich nations divided leaders at its summit in France on Monday, as President Donald Trump pushed for Moscow to be allowed back after its 2014 expulsion.
Russia was kicked out of what was then the Group of Eight — even as Moscow was holding its presidency — after it annexed Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a move never recognised by the international community.
But US President Donald Trump, who will host next year’s G7 summit, said he would certainly invite Russia to the event, though he doubted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would want to come if it was only as a guest.
And the host of this year’s event, French President Emmanuel Macron, has also said it would be appropriate to include Russia if key conditions concerning the conflict in Ukraine are met. But Britain, whose ties with Russia hit a new low following the 2018 chemical poisoning on its territory of ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, which London blamed on the Kremlin, has spoken out against Moscow’s readmittance.