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Should Russia return to the G7? Trump said yes
Summary
At the group's 44th summit, the U.S. president urged Russia's reinstatement, a call backed by Italy's prime minister but rejected by most other leaders.
Should Russia be allowed back into the G7? On 8 June 2018, at the group's 44th summit, U.S. President Donald Trump said it should, calling for Moscow to be reinstated.
Russia was suspended from the group after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Trump's proposal was supported by the Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, but most of the other G7 leaders rejected it.
What the suspension was about
The annexation followed Russia's invasion and occupation of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine in February and March 2014, and an referendum that was illegitimate. It came amid the uncertainty that immediately followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. Crimea's annexation was the first time since World War II that a European country had annexed part of another.
The split at the summit therefore turned on whether the 2014 suspension should stand. As reported at the time, the majority of leaders did not back a return for Russia.
The invasion of Crimea later came to be seen as the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
