European members oppose Trump's call to readmit Russia to G7

Brussels, June 9: European members of the G7 have unanimously opposed US President Donald Trump's call for Russia to be readmitted into the club.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and new Italian premier Giuseppe Conte agreed on the common stance during joint talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit, being held in Canada.

Moscow was expelled from the rich nations club over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

"The common European position is against the return of Russia," one senior aide to Macron told reporters, although the leaders did leave open "the possibility of establishing a dialogue" with Moscow.

Conte, who is attending his first summit, had earlier indicated that he was in favor of Trump's proposal to welcome Russia back into the organization after it was banned following its annexing of Crimea in 2014.

Theresa May, whose government has accused Russia of being behind the poisoning of a former spy in Britain earlier this year -- said that the G7 had to be convinced that Moscow had changed.

"We have always been clear that we should engage with Russia. The phrase I've used is: engage but beware," she told.

"Let's remember why the G8 became the G7."