Should Russia return to the G7? The 2018 split

Should Russia be allowed back into the G7? By 10 June 2018, the question had split the group's leaders during the 44th summit, where US President Donald Trump raised it on 8 June and again on 9 June.

The proposal

Russia had been suspended from the group after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Trump called for its reinstatement on 8 June 2018 and repeated the call the following day.

Who agreed, who did not

The Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, supported the call. Most of the other G7 leaders rejected it. The summit therefore ended its first days with the members openly divided over whether the suspension should stand.

Why Kyiv had a stake

The suspension was tied directly to Ukraine. In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, occupied it and then annexed it after a referendum described as illegitimate. This took place amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. Russia's annexation marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Seen in that light, the debate in June 2018 was not only about the membership of a club. It concerned whether the penalty imposed for Crimea would be kept in place, and most leaders signalled that it should be.

Looking back

The episode showed that the consensus behind the 2014 decision was not uniform. One leader pressed for readmission, another backed him, and the majority held their ground. Some analysts later came to see the annexation as the start of a Second Cold War between Russia and the West, a framing that makes the 2018 disagreement a notable moment in that wider confrontation.