Daily newspapers with covers, dedicated to the recent phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, are laid out at a newsstand in a street in Moscow, Russia, February 13, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Kremlin said on Friday (February 14, 2025) that the Group of Seven nations no longer united the world’s fastest growing economies and had therefore lost much of its relevance after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would love to have Russia return to the group.

“I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday.

Russia had been a member of the G7 club of industrialized democracies, then known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

When asked about Mr. Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call, “We have repeatedly said that the group which is now called the G7 has lost much of its relevance. It brings together countries that are not now leaders in terms of growth, when it comes to various parameters,”.

“Centres of growth have moved to other regions of the globe. We are much more interested in continuing our constructive work within the framework of the G20. A forum like the G20 is probably more reflective of the globe’s economic ‘locomotive’.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, on November 28, 2024. Mr. Putin said “in his opinion” Donald Trump is not safe now
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday (November 28, 2024) as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe Mr. Trump was safe after attempts on his life.

Mr. Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted assassination after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle at one of Mr. Trump’s Florida golf courses.

Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan after a summit, Mr. Putin said he had been shocked by the way the U.S. election campaign had unfolded.

He cited “the absolutely uncivilised methods used to battle against Mr. Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt — and more than once”.

“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” said Mr. Putin.

File picture of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in 2019
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

“Unfortunately, in the history of the United States various incidents have happened. I think he (Trump) is intelligent and I hope he’s cautious and understands this.”

Shocked at Trump criticism

Mr. Putin, who is himself heavily protected, said he had been even more shocked though by how Mr. Trump’s family and children had been criticised by political opponents during the U.S. election campaign.

He called such behaviour “revolting” and said in Russia not even “bandits” would resort to such methods.

Talking about what he described as the Biden administration’s decision to escalate the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with Western missiles, Mr. Putin speculated that it could be a ploy to either help Mr. Trump by giving him something to roll back or a way of making his life more difficult with Russia.

Either way, Mr. Putin said he thought Mr. Trump would “find the solution” and said Moscow was ready for dialogue.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Kremlin said Sunday (November 10, 2024) that it saw “positive signals” from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine, while warning it was hard to predict how he would behave in office.

Also Read: ‘Worry’ in Ukraine at Trump victory at critical moment in war

“The signals are positive. Trump during his election talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with State media published Sunday, November 10, 2024.

But Mr. Peskov said it was hard to predict “to what extent he’s going to stick to statements that he made on the campaign trail”.

“I take this opportunity to congratulate him,” Putin said (File)