Canadian Prime Minister not yet in office: Trump blames Trudeau for Russia's G8 expulsion

Donald Trump considers Russia's exclusion from the G8 group over ten years ago a "very bad decision." If Moscow had been kept in the group, "perhaps" millions of deaths could have been prevented. However, he currently rules out a return of Putin to the group.

US President Donald Trump has spoken out against Russia's readmission to the Group of Seven major democratic industrialized nations (G7) at this time. "I think it's not good timing now," Trump said at an event at the White House. That window of opportunity has passed, he added.

"I think it was a very bad decision," Trump said of the expulsion of Russia at the time. "It was led, by the way, by Trudeau and Obama. They were the two who fought really hard to expel Russia."

However, this is not the case with Justin Trudeau. The former Canadian Prime Minister was not yet in office at the time of Moscow's exclusion. Trudeau took office much later, in November 2015. The US President also failed to mention that Russia had been excluded in March 2014 for its illegal annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Trump further claimed that if Russia had remained in the Group of Seven leading economies, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine might not have happened. The expulsion "perhaps" resulted in the deaths of millions of people, the US leader said. If Russia were still at the table, the current problems probably wouldn't be happening.

As recently as February, Trump advocated for Russia's return to the G7. He stated at the time that he would "love" Russia to return to the group.

The dialogue format of the seven major industrialized nations has existed since 1975. Russia was admitted as a full member of the group in 2002, which was then called the G8 for twelve years until its expulsion. The group includes the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada.