MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. Germany’s statements that Russia cannot be back in the Group of Eight format are geared against the United States rather than against Russia, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of Russia’s State Duma lower parliament house, said on Monday.
"I think German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’ position that Russia cannot be part of the Group of Eight format stems rather from Berlin’s worsening relations with Washington. This statement is geared rather against [US President Donald] Trump’s initiative than against Moscow," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
He recalled that "under a formal pretext" German Chancellor Angela Merkel had refused to take part in the Group of Seven summit due to be held in the United States.
"As for our position, Russia’s return to the Group of Eight format is not a goal in itself, the more so under the terms of Crimea-related blackmailing. Interstate cooperation is more efficient in the Group of Twenty format, and Mr. Maas drew attention to it as well, while the informal Group of Seven club is growing ever more obsolete," Slutsky noted, adding that German partners "admit that it is impossible to resolve key problems of the international agenda without Russia."
He stressed that today the very fact of dialogue matters more than its possible formats.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Rheinische Post on Sunday he did not see any possibilities for restoring the Group of Eight format with Russia’s participation because of the situation in eastern Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia.