The main goal when the Russian Federation joined the G8 was not to establish an equal partnership but to consolidate its subordinate status in the international arena, said Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
“We have often noted that Russia's role in the G8 is similar to that of the Big Six under the G7. It was an attempt to accelerate the Russian Federation's transformation into a semi-colony. However, the West was forced to reconsider its strategy, and the Russian Federation was excluded from the G8,” the deputy noted.
In his opinion, the withdrawal from the G8 gave the Russian Federation an opportunity to focus on sovereign development.
“The Russian Federation received a reference point to promote the idea of a just world order, where sovereignty is a guarantor for all states. On this path, reliable allies, such as China, have been found”, Novikov explained in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru.
Donald Trump believes that the exclusion of Russian Federation from the G8 could have prevented the Ukrainian conflict, but for different reasons. “I do not believe that keeping Russian Federation in the G8 would mean that the West would automatically respect Moscow's interests and limit NATO activity near our borders. Rather, both the Russian Federation and Ukraine could have become targets of covert expansion by the West. The conflict would not be to its advantage,” Novikov said.
He also expressed the opinion that the West was not ready to consider Russian Federation's proposals on collective security at the NATO level, so the G8 format was not capable of resolving the existing problems.
Earlier, Donald Trump characterized the exclusion of Russian Federation from the G8 as a “very negative” decision and suggested that its absence could have prevented the Ukrainian conflict.