Trump says would be ‘appropriate’ for Russia to rejoin G-7
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’d like to see Russia readmitted to a group of the world’s major industrial nations.
Trump said Russia is often discussed when he and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan meet annually. Trump is scheduled to fly to France on Saturday for this year’s meeting of the Group of Seven.
In March 2014, at the urging of then-President Barack Obama, the leaders expelled Russia from what was the Group of Eight after President Vladimir Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula.
Trump claimed Obama pushed for Russia’s expulsion because Putin had “outsmarted” him.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president, sharply criticized Trump’s suggestion, saying Moscow had done nothing to deserve an invitation to rejoin the group.
“They invaded another country. They broke every agreement they had with the international community,” Biden told reporters during a stop in Prole, Iowa. “They’ve done nothing to change their behavior except interfere in our elections.”
Trump made similar comments about reinstating Russia to the G-7 before he attended the 2018 summit. Nothing came of it.
