Trump called the West's rejection of the G8 format with Russia's participation a stupid decision.

On May 7, US President Donald Trump called the decision to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight (G8), taken by the West in 2014, stupid, but the time has already passed for the restoration of this format.

"Russia used to be a member of the so-called G8. I don't think I was really involved in politics at that moment, but I know that President [Barack] Obama didn't like it, and they voted for Russia's withdrawal. <...> This, in my opinion, was a very stupid decision," Trump said, speaking at a meeting of the International Football Federation (FIFA).

According to the head of the White House, if Russia had remained in the G8, the whole world would have been able to avoid some of the existing problems.

Speaking about the resumption of the former G8 membership, Trump noted that now the time has passed to invite Russia to join the current G7 team. This happened, as the American leader noted, due to the omission of some people who, in his opinion, should not have taken part in decision-making at all.

On March 18, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin noted that Russia does not intend to return to the G8. He stressed that despite the many sanctions imposed, Russia is not isolated from the rest of the world. On February 13, Trump announced his desire to restore the G8 so that the Russian side could sit at the negotiating table with other representatives of the association.

On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the designation "big Seven" does not correspond at all to the real modest size of the G7 countries. He added that the European Union (EU), whose economy is based on the three G7 member states, has not been noted in terms of GDP growth — it increased by only 0.9%.