RUSSIALINK: “Moscow prefers G20 to G8, has not asked to return – minister” – Interfax

File Photo of G7 Leaders and other Officials Around Round Table at the Hague, with Flags

(Interfax – June 9, 2018)

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia has never asked to be readmitted to the G8, and considers the G20 group a more promising format for the future, Interfax news agency reported on 9 June.

“We’ve never asked to come back,” Lavrov said on Russia’s state-owned Channel One TV, the report said, noting that when Russia’s western partners decided that it should no longer be in the group, Moscow had accepted this “as their decision”.

Lavrov’s comments come a day after US President Donald Trump said Russia should be readmitted to the group, which it was suspended from in March 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea.

“We work perfectly in other formats, like the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), and BRICS, and particularly the G20, where they share our approaches,” Lavrov said.

“And in the framework of the G20, where they do without ultimatums, you need to get agreements there. The G20 is a mechanism for reaching a consensus. And I think that it’s the most promising format for the future,” he said.

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