Russia Will Remain in G20, Has No Interest in Reviving G8: Ambassador Stepanov

Dragon Media News Desk

Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov has said that Russia remains and will continue to remain a member of the Group of Twenty, rejecting any suggestion that Moscow has been excluded from or could lose its place in the G20.

Stepanov made the remarks while responding to recent comments by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney concerning Russia, the Ukraine conflict and the possible participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in international forums.

The ambassador said the G8 format effectively ceased to exist in 2014. According to him, Russia held the presidency of the group that year, but after Crimea’s incorporation into Russia, the other seven members decided for political reasons to withdraw from the G8 format.

Stepanov argued that Russia was not expelled from the G8, but that the other seven countries effectively removed themselves from the arrangement.

He said the G8 no longer exists and that Moscow has no interest in reviving the format.

The Russian ambassador argued that newer multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS and the G20 now carry greater authority in contemporary international affairs.

By contrast, he said the G7 has lost much of the influence and prestige it once possessed and no longer carries the same weight in the changing international system.

Stepanov’s remarks reflect Moscow’s broader diplomatic emphasis on multilateral institutions that include major emerging economies and countries outside the traditional Western political framework.

Russia has increasingly presented BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20 as more representative platforms for addressing global political and economic issues than Western-led groupings such as the G7.