EU Does not Support Trump’s Idea to Invite Russia to the G7 Summit

To return the Russian Federation to the G-7, Moscow must first change its course, according to the EU. Meanwhile, Moscow offered to invite China to the G7 summit. EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell on Tuesday, June 2, criticized the proposal made by US President Donald Trump to invite Russia to the next G7 summit. The Russian Federation will not be able to return to the G-7 group until it changes its course, the head of the European diplomacy emphasized speaking in Brussels. As this year’s host country of the G7 summit, the United States can only send one-time invitations to meetings held as part of this event, but not change its format, the diplomat recalled. Trump’s idea to ​​change the G7format The 46th G7 summit was originally scheduled to take place from June 10 to 12 at the Camp David suburban residence of US President. However, in March, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Washington announced its intention to replace the in-person meeting of world leaders with video-conference. Later, Trump proposed nevertheless to return to the in-person format of the summit, saying that it could be a sign of America’s return to the normality. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to travel to Washington amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 30, Donald Trump voiced the idea of ​​postponing the G-7 summit until the fall and expanding its format to “G10 or G11,” inviting Russia, South Korea, Australia, and India to attend. According to Trump, the expanded G7summit could take place in September - before or after the meeting of the UN General Assembly. “Maybe I’ll do it (I’ll hold the G7 Summit - Ed.) after the election,” Trump added. The US presidential election will take place in November 2020, and, apparently, Trump has practically no doubts about his own re-election. Moscow’s reaction to Trump’s idea to expand the G7 format On June 1, Trump telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin of his intention to invite Russia to the G-7 meeting, but the Kremlin was restrained in responding to this idea, Reuters reported. As Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on June 2, Moscow believes that Trump’s idea to hold an expanded G7 summit is “right in principle”. At the same time, Russia believes that China should also take part in the summit, the speaker said. “It is obvious, for example, that any serious undertakings of global significance can hardly be implemented without China’s participation,” the Izvestia Newspaper quotes Zakharova. Members of the G-7, along with the United States, are the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan. Russia was expelled from this group in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.