Russia sees no reason to revive the format of “Big eight”. As stated by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow the format of the G8 in the past
Format of “Big eight” in the past, said in an interview to “Interfax” Deputy foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. “We see no need to revive what’s left in the past,” he said, answering a question, whether Moscow is ready to resume work in this format.
“It’s the repetition, there is no element of novelty, therefore participation of Russia in “group of eight” is, in my opinion, a completely irrelevant question,” — said Ryabkov.
According to him, Russia for the last two years saw that “the efforts on the practical solution of a number of important international issues has moved by and large from the format of “seven” to other formats with full Russian participation.” “We state this as a given, as a fact, and I think it is undeniable from the point of view of our colleagues,” said Deputy Foreign Minister.
He recalled that the group of eight “ceased to exist on the initiative of our Western colleagues”.
Russia participated in the “group of eight” (composed of UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, France and Japan) from 1997 to 2014. Participation was suspended after the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
On 10 April German foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier ahead of the meeting of the foreign Ministers of the G7 countries in Hiroshima said that he would like to see the revival of the format of the G8. “I would hope that the G7 does not remain constant format, we must create conditions to return to G8”, — cited the words of Steinmeier, the German newspaper Zeit.
While Steinmeier noted that the preconditions for the return of Russia in the G8 can be the contribution of Moscow in the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and the implementation of constructive role of Moscow in establishing peace in Syria.
Later the official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that Russia is not willing to “pay” for the return in the G8 and attempt to force Moscow to make it “unfounded”.
Zakharova recalled that Western politicians, raising the question of the return of Russia in the G8, as the conditions called for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, “while the primary responsibility for this clearly lies with the Kiev authorities.”
