Kremlin says it ‘lacks detail’ on Trump’s G7 invitation

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said Monday it had not received details of a proposal by US President Donald Trump to include Russia in an expanded G7 summit later this year.

The US leader on Sunday described the G7 “a very outdated group of countries”, saying he would like to invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and India to join an expanded summit in the fall. The meeting was due to take place via video conference in June but Trump said he would delay it and aim to hold the gathering in-person instead.

Describing the event as a “G-10 or G-11”, Trump said he had “roughly” broached the topic with leaders of the four other countries. But Moscow said they had not heard more about Trump’s suggestion, saying it was unclear yet if the president’s proposition was “official”. “We don’t know the details of the proposal,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.

He said questions remained after Trump’s comments, including in what capacity other countries would participate and with what agenda. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was in favour of dialogue on all issues, but required “more information, which we do not yet have” to respond to the proposal.

Russia was thrown out of what was then the G8 in 2014 after it seized Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, an annexation never recognised by the international community. The G7 major advanced countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — hold annual meetings to discuss international economic coordination. Trump has previously said he supports returning Russia to the G7.