US President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed a strong desire for Russia to return to the G7, saying Moscow’s expulsion from the group, then known as the G8, in 2014 was a “mistake”.

Asked at the White House about the possibility of Russia’s return to the G7, the US president said: “I would very much like to see it come back. I think it was a mistake to exclude them.

Russia was expelled from the G20 following the launch of its military campaign against Ukraine in late February 2022, after which the United States and Western powers imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia.