Kremlin says G7 has lost a lot of relevance after Trump calls for Russia to be readmitted

Daily newspapers with covers, dedicated to the recent phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, are laid out at a newsstand in a street in Moscow, Russia, February 13, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Kremlin said on Friday (February 14, 2025) that the Group of Seven nations no longer united the world’s fastest growing economies and had therefore lost much of its relevance after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would love to have Russia return to the group.

“I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday.

Russia had been a member of the G7 club of industrialized democracies, then known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

When asked about Mr. Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call, “We have repeatedly said that the group which is now called the G7 has lost much of its relevance. It brings together countries that are not now leaders in terms of growth, when it comes to various parameters,”.

“Centres of growth have moved to other regions of the globe. We are much more interested in continuing our constructive work within the framework of the G20. A forum like the G20 is probably more reflective of the globe’s economic ‘locomotive’.”