Russia’s participation in the “Group of Eight” (G8) was not full membership, President Vladimir Putin told reporters in New Delhi.
“They (the Western countries.— “Kommersant”) included us in the G8 at one point—I’ve already spoken about this—but it wasn’t full membership. I saw all of this very clearly, even though all the right words were spoken,” Mr. Putin said.
Russia had been a member of the G8 since 1997. In 2014, a summit of the group’s leaders was scheduled to take place in Sochi; however, a few months prior, Russia was expelled from the G8. The reason was Crimea’s annexation by Russia. Vladimir Putin stated that he did not want Russia to return to the G8.
From 1997 to 2014, Russia was a member of the group known as the G8 (“Group of Eight”) and served as its chair twice: in 2006, the G8 summit was held in St. Petersburg, and the 2014 meeting was scheduled to take place in Sochi.
In 2020, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia does not seek to join the “Group of Seven” and is satisfied with the effectiveness of its work within the “Group of Twenty,” which, in his words, better reflects contemporary economic realities in terms of global centers of economic development.