-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has rejected a key element of the US peace plan for Ukraine that proposes restoring Russia to the G8, saying there is no support for such a move among the other G7 members, except the US, DW reported on November 24.
Speaking at a press conference after the G20 summit in Johannesburg on November 23, Merz said that “among the six current G7 members who are not the United States, there is no willingness to readmit Russia.”
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He stressed that any return to the G8 would require full consensus, which does not exist. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed a similar position earlier, noting that there are no conditions for Russia’s reinstatement, according to DW.
Russia was expelled from the G8 in 2014 following the illegal annexation of Crimea. During his first term in office, US President Donald Trump repeatedly attempted—unsuccessfully—to bring Russia back into the group.
The issue had not resurfaced after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, until Trump raised it again at the latest G7 summit, calling Russia’s exclusion a “big mistake,” DW wrote.
Previously, it was reported that European Union and G7 leaders have issued a joint statement in response to the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine endorsed by Donald Trump, saying the proposal could serve as a starting point—but requires significant revisions.
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-e027084132fee1ae6b313d8b1d5dfc34.jpg "SBU Reportedly Strikes Russian Oil Platforms for the Second Time This Week in the Caspian Sea")
