MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. The G7 has become a military headquarters for the United States to work on deterrence strategies against Russia and other rivals, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Initially, the G7 aspired to be an 'exclusive club', a regulator of the world economy, <...> but in fact it has turned into a US military headquarters to develop plans to contain Russia, China, Iran and other rivals [of the United States]," he said at a meeting with students and faculty of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

According to the minister, even before the group's expansion, BRICS had already surpassed the G7 in terms of cumulative GDP on the basis of purchasing power parity. "And the fact that the G7 was forced to agree to the creation of the G20 is already a signal that the countries of the group realized they could not make due on their own," he added.

Nevertheless, according to Lavrov, the G7 is trying to maintain its "undeservedly privileged positions" in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), "slowing down the reform of these institutions in order to maintain its dominant influence over them."

"But the process [of the G7 losing influence], again, is unstoppable, it will continue," the top Russian diplomat concluded.