WASHINGTON — President Obama and his fellow leaders on Monday kicked Russia out of the world’s most exclusive club — the G8 group of leading industrialized countries.
“We believe that there is no reason for the G7 countries to engage with Russia going forward based on its behavior,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in the Netherlands, where Obama is attending a nuclear summit.
In another slap at Russia for seizing Crimea from Ukraine, Obama and his G7 partners canceled plans for a June meeting in the Russian Olympic venue of Sochi.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov scoffed at being tossed out of the renamed G8, saying, “If our Western partners believe that this format has outlived its usefulness, then so be it.”
In Crimea, pro-Russian forces took control of a key Ukrainian marine base, and Ukraine announced that it was pulling its troops out of Crimea. Obama promised that Russia will “pay a price.”