World Powers to Consider Russia’s Return to G8 Next Year

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the G7 member states will consider Russia’s role in settling international conflicts in a year and will decide on conditions for the country’s return to the Group of Eight.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The G7 member states will consider Russia’s role in settling international conflicts in a year and will decide on conditions for the country’s return to the Group of Eight (G8), German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Sunday.

"It turns out that none of the major international conflicts can be solved without Russia. We will see in a year if Russia maintains this constructive role and then there will certainly be a debate within the G7, when Russia’s return is possible and which conditions must be met," Steinmeier said ahead of the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan's Hiroshima, as quoted by the German Zeit newspaper.

The top German diplomat expressed hope for the world powers to create conditions for Russia’s swift return to the group.

Russia walked out of the G8 group of the world’s largest economies after a rift with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States over its alleged role in the conflict in Ukraine.