Leaders of the EU, UK and Canada have said that they will continue to oppose Russia’s readmission to the G7 format over its annexation of Crimea and actions in the Donbas war.
“Under no condition can we agree with this logic,” European Council president Donald Tusk said on August 24, responding to a suggestion from the US president, Donald Trump, that Russia should be readmitted to the group. Mr Trump previously claimed that Russia’s actions in Crimea were “partially” justified.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, also condemned Mr Trump’s plan and called on the G7 leaders to maintain the current position. “It is impossible to let Russia back to the G7, but it is important to force Russia to fulfill its obligations,” Mr Zelensky said in a statement.
Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, the UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau agreed that “Russia should not be readmitted to the G7 unless it has ceased its aggression against Ukraine,” Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported.
“It would be appropriate for Russia to eventually rejoin and re-create the G8 format,” French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters after meeting Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart on August 22, adding that “the indispensable precondition is that a solution is found concerning Ukraine.”
German chancellor Angela Merkel also said that Russia’s readmission was “not actual”.
On August 23, the G7 Ambassadors’ Support Group for Reform in Ukraine reaffirmed their commitment to support the country with implementing reforms.
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