The US Congress proposes to ban any possible allocation of funds from the federal budget for any measures aimed at supporting Russia's participation in the G7 summits or the reconstruction of the G8. The corresponding bill, the text of which was reviewed by RT, was submitted to Congress by member of the Democratic Party Katie Hill.
Hill notes that all G7 states are "democracies aimed at strengthening democratic forms of government around the world." However, Russia, as stated in the document, starting in 2014, repeatedly intervened in the elections in the G7 countries, and also continues to conduct disinformation campaigns and is trying to secretly influence members of the Group of Seven.
"Despite such actions," the document states, US President Donald Trump has again and again advocated "ending the suspension of Russia's participation in the G7 without preconditions."
And the new bill, as noted in himself, is designed to stop such attempts.
“Despite any other provisions of the law, funds from the federal budget should not be allocated or allocated in any other way for any measures that promote or support: participation of Russia in meetings of the Group of Seven or reconstruction of the Group of Eight subject to the inclusion of Russia in it,” underlined in the document.
As indicated in the bill, "Congress believes that no official related to the US government, including the US president, should use his official position to facilitate Russia's return to the reconstructed G8" until Russia fulfills a number of conditions.
Moreover, the document also spelled out a mechanism for lifting these prohibitive measures. In particular, they could be canceled 30 days after the Secretary of State provided the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations with confirmation that Moscow had fulfilled the three points described in the document.
- © Alexander Demianchu / Reuters
At the same time, the terms, according to the bill, include the termination by Russia of "interference" in the American elections, the "occupation" of Crimea, as well as the fulfillment of obligations under the Minsk agreements. In addition, as conceived by Democrat Katy Hill, the Russian government should take "constructive steps to stop its activities aimed at disuniting Western economic and political structures, as well as Western security structures, in particular those whose members are G7 states."
Recall that Crimea became the Russian region after the 2014 referendum, in which the majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula called for reunification with Russia. As for the Minsk agreements, Russian President Vladimir Putin previously emphasized that one cannot always demand that they be executed by Moscow to the extent that it does not depend on it at all, recalling that Ukraine does not comply with these agreements.
“Let's calmly figure out who should do what. And we will not shift all responsibility to one of the parties, ”Putin said.
In addition, Moscow has repeatedly denied its involvement in interference in the affairs of other states.
“I want to state very clearly: we have not intervened and are not going to interfere in the internal affairs of either the EU countries or other states of the world. This is our key difference from the United States and a number of its allies, which, for example, supported the coup in Ukraine in February 2014, ”Vladimir Putin emphasized.
“Russia is neither hot nor cold from this”
Despite the fact that the bill submitted to the Congress is devoted to accusations against Moscow, in reality it has a very distant relationship and is directed primarily against the Republicans and Trump, said HSE professor Maxim Bratersky in a conversation with RT.
“Nothing is changing for Russia, Vladimir Putin said quite clearly that membership in this same G8 is not the main goal for the country and there are other formats where you can discuss matters, for example, the same G20. These are the next minor injections of two warring factions in American politics, Russia is neither hot nor cold, ”the expert emphasized.
A spokesman for the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov emphasized earlier that for Russia, returning to the G8 format is not an end in itself, the country does not intend to impose its participation.
“I want to remind you of a statement by the president that he made at Fort Bregancon at a press conference. For Russia, participating in the Seven or returning to the Seven is not an end in itself, ”Peskov said.
According to him, Moscow did not refuse any communication formats, however, "it is not going to impose its participation on anyone." At the same time, he pointed out that returning to G7 "is not possible only at the invitation of one of the countries, because there all decisions are made by consensus."
- Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov
- © Alexei Nikolsky / RIA News
Intra-american wrestling
American senators and congressmen have repeatedly opposed the possibility of Moscow participating in G7 meetings or re-creating the G8 with Russia included in it.
In particular, earlier Democratic senators sent Trump a letter in which they disagreed with the idea of Russia returning to the G8 format. According to the authors, the country allegedly “has neither democratic institutions nor economic potential” to return to G7.
In addition, in September, Congress also introduced a resolution calling on all G7 leaders to “oppose the return of Russia until it completely ceases its occupation of the sovereign territory of Ukraine, including the Crimea, and stops the attack on democracy around the world.”
Such initiatives on the part of American lawmakers were a response to Trump's statements about the possibility of inviting Russia to the next G7 summit, which the United States will host in 2020.
As political analyst Sergei Mikheev emphasized in a conversation with RT, Moscow does not need any funds from the US budget to support the country's participation in any of the formats referred to in the new bill of the US Congress.
At the same time, he added that such initiatives should be seen as an instrument of internal political struggle in the United States.
“All this must be seen in the context of the internal American struggle with Trump. These are just reflex movements during the endless butting with the incumbent US president, ”the expert concluded.