US President Donald Trump said he would like to see Russia rejoin the G7, making it the G8 again, while speaking to the press alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Washington DC on Monday.
“I think it’s much more appropriate to have Russia in. It should be the G8, because a lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia. So I could certainly see it being the G8 again. And if somebody would make that motion, I would certainly be disposed to think about it very favourably,” Trump said.
He also said that “President Obama thought it wasn’t a good thing to have Russia in,” because Russian President Vladimir Putin “outsmarted him.”
“Well, that’s not the way it really should work,” Trump concluded.
Russia was suspended from G8 meetings after its reunification with Crimea in 2014, with the remaining countries continuing to meet as the G7 ever since. The next meeting with take place in Biarritz, France, on August 24-26.