G7 ‘useless’ now, says Kremlin, concurs with Trump’s claim that kicking out Russia was a mistake

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked “rather useless” now, while latching onto the assertion of US President Donald Trump that it had been a big mistake to expel Russia from the Group of Eight in 2014.

Trump said at a Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday that the G8 had been wrong to kick out Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, “We agree with President Trump: it was a big mistake then to exclude Russia from the G8 format.”

He further said the G7 had “lost practical significance” for Russia, given the state of world affairs.

“Given the declining share of the G7 countries in the global economy, given all the trends that are observed in the G7 countries and, of course, against the background of, for example, such formats as the G20, the G7 looks dull and rather useless,” Peskov said.

“This was a big mistake,” Trump had said on Monday, adding that he believed Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Putin not been ejected from the high-profile group of nations.

“Putin speaks to me. He doesn’t speak to anybody else ... he’s not a happy person about it,” Trump said.

Russia was part of the “group of eight” (G8), an intergovernmental political forum, up until 2014, when it was expelled for annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

G7 used to be the G8, before Russia was ousted from the group by former US President Barack Obama and other world leaders in 2014.

Trump said Vladimir Putin “was very insulted” by the move.

By terming the G7 useless, the Kremlin has already undermined any resolutions, criticism, or sanctions the leaders decide to impose on Russia due to its ongoing war with Ukraine.