Group of Seven (G7) leaders met yesterday seeking a common approach on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East but faced early challenges as US President Donald Trump said removing Russia from the former Group of Eight over a decade ago had been a mistake.
The once tight-knit grouping has struggled to find unity as Washington retreats from multilateralism and Trump overtly expresses support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
G7 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US, along with the European Union, are convening in the resort area of Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies until today.
Speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said the former Group of Eight had been wrong to kick out Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.
“This was a big mistake,” Trump said, adding he believed Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Putin not been ejected.
“Putin speaks to me. He doesn’t speak to anybody else ... he’s not a happy person about it. I can tell you that he basically doesn’t even speak to the people that threw him out, and I agree with him,” Trump said.
Though Trump stopped short of saying Russia should be reinstated in the group, his comments raise doubts about how much Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy can achieve when he meets the leaders today. European nations say they want to persuade Trump to back tougher sanctions on Moscow.
Zelenskiy said he planned to discuss new weapons purchases for Ukraine with Trump.
Trump spoke on Saturday with Putin and suggested the Russian leader could play a mediation role between Israel and Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the idea, arguing that Moscow could not be a negotiator because it had started an illegal war against Ukraine.
A European diplomat said Trump’s suggestion showed that Russia was very much on US minds.
European officials said they hoped to use today’s meeting with Zelenskiy and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and next week’s Nato summit to convince Trump to toughen his stance.
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