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Should Russia return to the G7? The June 2018 row
Summary
A look back at the debate over readmitting Russia that surfaced at the G7 summit on 8 and 9 June 2018, days before the covered date.
What was the argument over Russia's place in the G7 about as of 13 June 2018? It stemmed from the 44th G7 summit, held in the days just before that date, when the question of readmitting Moscow dominated part of the discussion.
On 8 June 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump called for Russia to be reinstated in the group. Russia had been suspended from it after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, supported the call, but most of the other G7 leaders rejected it.
On 9 June 2018, Trump again called for Russia to be brought back into the group, repeating a position that most of his counterparts at the summit had not accepted.
What the suspension was about
The suspension followed Russia's actions in Ukraine. In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, occupied it and then annexed it after a referendum that was illegitimate. This came amid the uncertainty that immediately followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. The invasion marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, a description applied in retrospect.
For Kyiv, the significance of the summit exchange lay in that link: the question of Russia's return to the group was tied directly to Crimea, the reason it had been suspended in the first place.
The split among leaders
The summit exposed a division. The American president and the Italian prime minister favoured readmission, while most other leaders did not. As of 13 June 2018, Russia remained suspended from the group.
