RIA Novosti: Opinion: G7 in Decline, Confrontation With Russia Will Lead to Economic Problems

MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti), Luidmila Chernova – Russia’s exclusion from the G8 is a knee-jerk reaction provoked by short-sighted interests, which will ultimately lead to economic problems, according to Andrew McKillop, a former chief policy analyst at the European Commission Directorate General for Energy.

“It’s a purely political stance, provoked by only political short-term interest, and has nothing to do either with the world’s economy, or the G20,” McKillop, an independent journalist and adviser, told RIA Novosti.

More importantly, it is foolish for the G7 to attempt to exclude Russia from the world economic arena, McKillop stressed.

“As an energy expert with 30 years of experience, I can state there is no conceivable way that the G7 can exclude Russia from the world energy system,” he stated.

The plan by the Obama administration to supplement Europe’s needs with US natural gas in lieu of Russian energy has a lot of implications for the sector, McKillop believes.

“This is the situation where everybody loses. So, it’s not win-win, but lose-lose,” the expert concluded.

On the European side, a change in infrastructure may be necessary and the transition to natural gas is likely to cause uncertainty in world stock markets, he added.

“Europeans are playing the American card,” he asserted. “They are playing Indiana Jones, and it will not be good for them.”

The leaders of the G7 should realize that their role and the power in the global economy are in decline, McKillop added, underlining that although the G7 still control 40 percent of the world’s economic output, the countries only represent about nine percent of the world’s population.

“The G7 format should disappear, there is no need for it anymore … The G20 will do,” McKillop asserted.

On Thursday, Ministers of Finance and central bankers from G7 nations discussed the possibility of providing financial aid to Ukraine. The country’s economy has been hard hit by the ongoing political crisis following the unconstitutional seizure of power last month by the country’s new leadership, which includes a number of far-right ultranationalists in key positions.

Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification with Crimea.

Following this move, Russia was suspended from the G8 group. However, the decision was not supported by member states of the G20.