Russia is not looking to rejoin the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrial nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to India on Thursday.

The G7’s share of the global economy has been shrinking for years, Mr Putin was quoted as saying in an interview with broadcaster India Today by Russian state news agency TASS.

The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the European Union also joining the discussions.

Russia was excluded from the group, which was the G8 with Russia in it, after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. That left the remaining members united in their values as Western democracies.

However, significant differences have emerged between the U.S. and the others since Donald Trump’s return to power as president in January.

Russia was initially admitted in 1998, not due to its economic strength but because of the country’s influential role on the global stage of politics.

The latest U.S.-backed plan for an end to the war in Ukraine includes a proposal for Russia to be invited to return to the G7.

This suggestion has been criticised by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that he doesn’t believe members are ready for such a move.

Mr Putin said the prospect was not discussed with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who visited Moscow on Tuesday to talk about the latest efforts to end the fighting. 

(dpa/NAN)