PARIS, June 17. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump isn't convinced that the West's decision to sideline Russia from the Group of Eight (G8) was prudent.
"We had some great meetings in France. It used to be the G8, now it's G7 and that was a good deal or not, but it's a G7," he told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a Group of Seven (G7) summit in France.
Earlier, Trump repeatedly criticized this association being reduced to "seven." In April, he called this decision stupid and pointed out that maintaining cooperation with Russia within the framework of the G8 would have probably helped avoid the current global problems, including the crisis in Ukraine.
The G7 is an association of economically developed countries, which includes the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France and Japan. In 1975, the club held its first meeting as G6 - the United Kingdom, West Germany, Italy, the US, France and Japan, and the following year Canada was invited to join. The club existed in the "seven" format from 1976 to 1997. After Russia joined, it became the "G8." In March 2014, as a result of the events in Ukraine and a subsequent crisis in relations between the United States and Europe with Russia, the Western members of the association returned to the G7 format during President Barack Obama's tenure in Washington.