Russia should be in G8 - Trump | 16 June 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump has called Russia's removal from the group of major Western economies (G8) a mistake, arguing that the country's presence could have helped prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Russia joined the group originally known as the G7 in 1997. Moscow's membership was suspended in 2014 following Crimea's reunification with Russia, upon which the G8 reverted to the G7. Trump made the remarks on Monday at the opening of the G7 Leaders' Summit in Canada, recalling that Russia had been part of the group before. "The G7 used to be the G8," he said at his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "[Former US President] Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in. And I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn't have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago," he argued.