Moscow: U.S. President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin and told him about his idea to invite Russia and others to attend a Group of Seven summit during a phone call, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday.
Russia will take part in such a meeting if it is treated as an equal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day. The statement didn’t elaborate. Trump said Sunday that he’d like to invite leaders from Russia, Australia, India and South Korea to attend the G-7 meeting, calling the current setup “outdated.”
Trump also discussed Brazil’s participation in the G-7 meeting during a call with President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday, the Brazilian leader said in a Twitter post.
The U.K. and Canada indicated they’d block an attempt to re-admit Russia to the group of of advanced economies, which had ejected it in 2014 after Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
“Decisions on G-7 membership need to be made unanimously by all G-7 leaders,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman James Slack said Monday. “Russia was removed following its annexation of Crimea and we are yet to see evidence of its behavior that would justify its readmission.”
Russia should continue to be excluded from the G-7 due to its “disrespect and flaunting of international rules,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Trump has postponed efforts to hold the summit in June at Camp David, saying it could be held in September or even after the presidential election in November. “So it might be a G-10, G-11, and it could be after the election is over,” Trump said. – Bloomberg
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