Putin’s G-7 Game Isn’t About Getting Back In
Trump’s push for an invitation gives the Russian leader more interesting opportunities than membership.
Vladimir Putin is awaiting hints from Emmanuel Macron.
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin/AFP, via Getty Images
Donald Trump wants to bring Russia back into the club currently known as G-7 after the country lost its membership following the 2014 Crimea annexation. But Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t really want back in. He’ll just try to use the situation to gauge what degree of cooperation on his part would be sufficient to get French President Emmanuel Macron to go along with Trump’s idea.
Trump, who also called for going back to the G-8 format last year, said on Tuesday that Russia’s readmission would be “appropriate” “because a lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia.” That, of course, is a factual statement; even if, in the U.S. political discourse, Russia’s role has shrunk to election interference, Putin’s role in dismantling the U.S.-led international order is much more multifaceted. Besides, taking into account purchasing power parity, Russia is the sixth biggest global economy, so if membership in the G-7 is determined by the size of economic output, Russia, along with China, India, Indonesia and Brazil, has a better claim on it than some current members (although without the PPP correction, it’s only the 12th biggest). The Group of Seven nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the U.S.