Russia’s foreign broadcaster RT announced on April 10 that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wants to see Russia return to the G7 group.
The story claims that before the G7 meeting in Japan, Steinmeier expressed his desire to see the Russian Federation return to the world’s biggest developed economies group. RT writes that the German Foreign Minister “noted Russia’s constructive role in resolving the crises in Ukraine and Syria as one of the reasons why the G7 should end the boycott [and return the Kremlin to the G8”.
In fact Steinmeier did not point out Russia’s “constructive role in resolving the Ukraine and Syria crises”, as a reason for returning Russia to the group. What Steinmeier actually said was that Russia must contribute a “political solution” to the Ukraine conflict as a prerequisite for its return. In addition, the Kremlin must play a permanent “constructive role” in the search for peace in Syria.
German media, among them DPA, Deutsche Welle, the newspapers Frankfurter Rundschau and Zeit Online, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung all covered Steinmeier’s statement in this spirit.
Steinmeier has spoken about Russia’s return to the G7 before and maintains that excluding Russia over its actions in Ukraine is a necessary step, but not a goal in itself.
