The United States, as a chair of the G7 summit, can invite Russia to the group, but cannot change the format or membership on a permanent basis, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) The United States, as a chair of the G7 summit, can invite Russia to the group, but cannot change the format or membership on a permanent basis, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, who shared his plans to hold the September G7 summit in an extended format, including the leaders of Russia, India, Australia and South Korea.
"I also would like to stress the fact that the prerogative of the G7 chair, in this case the United States, is to issue guest invitations, and guest invitations reflect the host's priorities. But changing membership, changing the format on a permanent basis is not a prerogative of the G7 chair," Borrell told a press conference.
Russia was a part of the G8 format that had been in place from 1998-2014, but the group was reduced to the G7 due to disagreements regarding the events in Crimea and Ukraine, with the G7 countries accusing Moscow of interfering in Ukraine's domestic affairs, something Russia has denied. Recently, more and more members of the Western political establishment have begun questioning policies of antagonizing Russia and refusing mutually beneficial cooperation. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed inviting Russia to the 2020 G7 summit in the United States.
