Moscow, February 15, 2025 – The Europe Today: The Group of Eight (G8) has become obsolete as it no longer represents the world’s key economic powers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to reinstate Russia.
Trump suggested that Russia should be readmitted to the G8, which currently consists of the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. However, Peskov dismissed the idea, emphasizing that the economic growth engines of the world—China, India, and Brazil—are not part of the group.
“The G7 does not represent the world’s leading economic and social development centers,” Peskov stated, arguing that the group has “lost its relevance” due to the shifting global economic landscape.
He stressed that Russia prefers the G20 framework, which includes China, India, and Brazil alongside the G7 members. “The G20 better reflects the economic locomotives of the world,” Peskov added.
Trump, speaking at the White House on Thursday, called Russia’s 2014 exclusion a mistake. “I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out,” he said.
Russia was admitted to the G8 in 1997 as a “non-enumerated member” but was suspended in 2014 following its reunification with Crimea. Afterward, the G8 reverted to the G7. Crimea had voted in a referendum to leave Ukraine and join Russia following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev.
