MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to invite Russia to an expanded Group of Seven summit later this year raised more questions than it provided answers, but that its diplomats would seek clarification from Washington.
Trump said on Saturday he wanted to expand the list of invitees to a G7 summit that he wants postponed until September or later to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.
Trump told Putin about the idea in a phone call on Monday, according to readouts of the conversation published by the Kremlin and the White House.
Russia was expelled from what was then known as the Group of Eight in 2014 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Britain and Canada have spoken out in opposition to the idea of letting Russia back into the forum.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia would seek further details about Trump’s proposal from Washington through diplomatic channels.
“This is a format that Russia does not participate in and therefore we have said from the start that for the moment there are more questions at this stage than there are answers,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)
