Putin is “singing” in unison with Trump

"We agree with President Trump: it was a big mistake to exclude Russia from the G8 format," Peskov said.

At the same time, according to him, given the current state of affairs in the world, the G7 has "lost practical significance" for Russia.

Given the decline in the share of the G7 countries in the global economy, given all the trends observed in the G7 countries, and, of course, against the background of, for example, formats such as the G20, the G7 looks dull and rather useless.

Recall that before the Group of Seven (G7) summit, during a conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said that excluding Russia from the G8 "was a mistake."

It used to be the Group of Eight. Then Barack Obama and "a man named Trudeau" (former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, ed.) came out against Russia's participation. But I think that made it more difficult because you spend so much time discussing Russia, and it's not at the negotiating table.

Donald Trump

President of the United States

Republican US Congressman Don Bacon reacted sharply to Trump's statement. He noted that Russia should not be a member of the international club as long as its troops are in Ukraine. He also called for the isolation of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Let the G7 remain the G7, not the G8. Russia should not be part of this forum until it stops its invasion of Ukraine and withdraws its troops from the territories it occupies. War criminal Putin deserves to be ostracized.