Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in the interview that the Russian Federation should never be allowed back in the Group of 7 as long as Vladimir Putin is president.
“I don’t think Russia under Vladimir Putin belongs in the G7. Period,” Harper said. “Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back and that consensus will just not happen.”
PHOTO:Canada at NATO
“Russia is more often than not trying deliberately to be a strategic rival, to deliberately counter the good things we’re trying to achieve in the world than for no other reason than to just counter them,” Harper said.
“Mindset of the guy we are dealing with is that the Cold War has never ended and ‘I’ve got to fight to change the ending somehow.”
“I don’t think there is any way under this leader Russia will ever change,” said Canadian Prime Minister.
Stephen Harper begins his trip to Ukraine and the Group of 7 meeting in Germany (June 07-08, 2015).
