BIARRITZ /France/, August 25. /TASS/. The Group of Seven countries have agreed at their summit in the French resort city of Biarritz on broader interaction with Russia on various issues but are not ready yet to readmit Moscow to the club, the news agency AFP reported on Sunday, citing a source in diplomatic circles.
The G7 leaders stand for improving coordination with Russia, the source said. At the same time, it is early to speak about its reintegration in the G7, it added.
All the G7 leaders came to this conclusion. The G7 leaders discussed this issue during their informal dinner at the foot of the Biarritz beacon on Saturday evening, the source said.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported overnight to Sunday that the G7 leaders had discussed the issue of returning to the G8 format with Russia’s participation. A spokesperson for the Japanese government told the news agency that the G7 leaders had agreed not to disclose the details of this discussion.
Trump says Putin may be invited to next G7 summit in US
US President Donald Trump has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin may attend the next G7 summit in the United States in 2020, the news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
The US president made this statement ahead of his meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the G7 summit running in the French resort city of Biarritz, the news agency said.
According to Bloomberg, Trump said it is "certainly possible" he will invite Putin as a guest to next year’s Group of Seven summit in the United States.
Meanwhile, the news agency Reuters reported that the US president confirmed the media reports that the G7 leaders had discussed Russia’s possible return to the club of the world’s leading industrialized nations. Trump noted, however, he did not know whether Russia would finally return to the Group of Seven nations.
The G7 is a group of industrialized nations that includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group was renamed the G8 in 1997 when Russia joined the club. However, following the 2014 events in Ukraine that created a crisis in relations between Russia and the West, the group’s western members decided to get back to the G7 format.