Trump Says Russia Should Be Allowed Into G-7, Moscow Wants Talks To Continue
President Trump says Russia should be allowed to rejoin the Group of Seven industrial nations, and Russia's foreign ministry has welcomed his remarks.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, before his scheduled trip to France for the G-7 summit, Trump encouraged Moscow's return to the elite group.
"I think it's much more appropriate to have Russia in," he said. "It should be the G-8 because a lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia."
Trump characterized Russia's ousting to his predecessor's humiliation on the world stage, offering little to substantiate his claim.
"President Obama didn't want Russia in because he got outsmarted," Trump said.
Russia was excluded from the G-7 in 2014 after its troops invaded Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea. Western leaders condemned the actions as a "clear violation of international law" and sought to penalize the Russian government.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared to embrace the door Trump opened, according to Russia's news agency Tass.
"Initiatives need to be outlined and handed over to Russia for consideration," Zakharova said. "At the moment, it is hard to understand what it is all about, so if the G7 wants to position itself as a serious platform, the discussion should be moved from the media field to the expert level."
Trump's appeal on Tuesday did not mark the first time that he called on the group – France, Germany, Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan – to bring Russia back into the fold. In June 2018, Trump told reporters that "we should have Russia at the negotiating table."
His remarks on Tuesday did not include a mention of Crimea or any conditions for Russia to be reinstated.
French President Emmanuel Macron has continuously called on Moscow to help end the conflict in Ukraine before Russia can return to the group.
The summit started in 1975 when leaders of six industrial countries met at the Chateau de Rambouillet, an hour outside of Paris, to discuss economic crisis. Canada joined the next year. And in 1991, the G-7 invited Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, to talks in London. Russia was formally admitted to the group in 1998. [Copyright 2019 NPR]
