MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chizhov underscored the "latent transatlantic contradictions" that were laid bare over the weekend, saying "this is well known both in speeches and in the content of the final documents."
"This once again confirms the correctness of the Russian leadership's position that somehow returning to the eight format is, first, not a very promising matter and, second, not entirely needed," he said.
11 April 2017, 23:49 GMT
The Group of 7 — an intergovernmental forum of the world’s largest industrialized democracies — began meeting in 1975.
It became the Group of 8 after Russia joined in 1997, but reverted to the G7 format after the other nations voted to suspend Russia’s participation after Crimea, a former Ukrainian region, rejoined Russia as a result of a referendum in 2014, which is yet to be recognized by Kiev and a number of Western countries.
