G7’s leaders that are meeting in Biarritz, France, have discussed the issue of returning to the G8 format with Russia’s participation, TASS reported citing Japan’s Kyodo News.
A Japanese government official told the agency that the G7 leaders discussed the specified issue, but the contents of this discussion will not be disclosed.
During a telephone conversation on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who chairs G7 now, agreed that Russia’s invitation to the G7 summit in 2020 would make sense.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that a return to G8 for Russia is not a goal in itself, as solving many issues in the G20 format is more effective. He reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin already said that Moscow does not reject communication with other countries in any formats.
G7 is a group of economically developed countries which includes the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France and Japan. The G7 format existed from 1976 to 1997. After Russia had joined it, it became known as G8. In March 2014, due to events in Ukraine and the subsequent crisis in Russia’s relations with the US and Europe, the group’s western members decided to return to the G7 format during Barack Obama’s presidency in the US.
