India May Be Dropped From G7 Meeting For Defying The West On Sanctions

New reports suggest that due to India defying the west by refusing to sever its trade ties with Russia, it might be dropped from the next meeting of the G7.

According to Bloomberg, Germany had planned to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a guest to a G7 summit in June, but may rethink due to New Delhi’s reluctance to condemn Russia for its aggression on Ukraine.

According to the news site, which cited sources acquainted with the case, the guest list for the event in Bavaria was prepared by Russia before the attack in late February and includes countries such as Senegal, South Africa, and Indonesia.

When approached for response, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office stated that the German leader “would like to see as many international partners as possible joining the [anti-Russian] sanctions,” and that the list of G7 invitees will be made public once it was finalised.

The G7, or Group of Seven, is an informal group of nations that were the world’s largest economies when it was created in the 1970s. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States are all represented. The same countries are in the vanguard of an effort to punish Russia for its aggression on Ukraine by imposing crippling economic sanctions.

Critics argue that the G7 is an out-of-date organisation that has failed to evolve as new economic powerhouses such as China and India have risen to prominence. Many countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa have refused to join the anti-Russian campaign led by the United States. Beijing went even further, siding with Moscow in accusing NATO’s expansion in Europe of instigating the conflict.

India has refused to sever it’s trade ties with Russia, which is a key weapon supplier to its armed forces. It also reportedly increased energy purchases from Russia at a time when the US and its allies were attempting to undercut Russian oil and gas trade.

One insider told Bloomberg that New Delhi’s defiance “had not gone unnoticed in the chancellery.” Western nations will face a similar diplomatic conundrum during the G20 summit in Indonesia later this year, according to the site.

Russia, which places a high priority on its participation in G20 summits, is part of the more representative economic forum. Western countries want a conclusive decision resulting from the November meeting to criticise Russia, but they don’t want a public rift on the topic.

Russia was accepted to the G7 in 1997, which was later renamed the G8, but was thrown out in 2014 as a result of its role in the Ukraine crisis. In Kiev, an armed coup deposed the country’s democratically elected president that year. This sparked outrage in the country’s pro-Russian eastern provinces, with Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk leaving the nation. After a vote, Russia reabsorbed Crimea, while the other two fought a war against Ukrainian military dispatched by Kiev to put down the insurgency.

Following Ukraine’s refusal to fulfil the provisions of the Minsk agreements made in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, Moscow launched an attack on the neighbouring country in late February. The Minsk Protocol, negotiated by the Germans and the French, was intended to grant the separatist areas special status within the Ukrainian state.

Since then, Russia has insisted that Ukraine declare itself a neutral country that would never join the NATO military alliance led by the United States. Kiev believes the Russian invasion was unprovoked and refutes suggestions that it planned to seize the two republics by force.

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