Trump Says Kicking Russia Out Of G7 Was A ‘Very Big Mistake’

Donald Trump has claimed that kicking Russia out of the G7 was a “very big mistake” which helped pave the way to the ongoing Ukraine war.

Russia was part of the “group of eight” (G8), an intergovernmental political forum, up until 2014 when it was expelled for annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

But, according to the US president, that was a major mistake made by former US president Barack Obama and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Speaking to the press while meeting with the current Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of this week’s G7 summit, Trump said: “Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.

“I think that was a mistake, you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in.

“And you wouldn’t have a war if Trump were president four years ago.”

Trump has repeatedly contested the 2020 presidential elections after he lost to Joe Biden, falsely claiming the Democrats’ victory was rigged.

The president continued: “But it didn’t work out that way. It used to be G8 nine years ago, eight years ago.

“They threw Russia out, which I claimed was a very big mistake, even though I wasn’t in politics then, I was very loud about it.

“You spend so much time talking about Russia and he’s [Vladimir Putin] no longer at the table – it makes life more complicated.

“But you wouldn’t have had the war,” he said. “Other than that, we’re going to accomplish a lot [at the G7].”

Carney just looked on awkwardly while Trump made his bizarre claims.

While he has been determined to resolve the Ukraine war, Trump has continuously sided with Putin since returning to office in January.

The Russian president ordered the Russian invasion of its European neighbour back in February 2022, still holds 18% of Ukrainian land, and is dragging his feet over negotiations.

But, Trump is yet to impose any further sanctions on Russia for its reluctance to end its land grab.