David Cameron Cancels G8 Summit in Russia

Due to recent events concerning Crimea’s annexation to Russia, David Cameron has declared that the G8 Summit will not take place in Russia this year.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine was the nail in the coffin for G7 leaders, kicking Russian president Vladimir Putin out of the Summit. Since the 1990s, the group was constituted by the world’s richest industrialised nations: Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia. The group cancelled their scheduled trip to Sochi in June, where the conference was to be held before the recent political turmoil in the region.

In his recent speech in the Netherlands, David Cameron, declared “There’s not going to be a G8 summit this year”, a decision made after Russian troops confiscated power of the last military base in Crimea. This is both Putin’s punishment for the annexation and prevention of any further military invasion into Ukraine.

Putin’s absence in the nuclear cooperation summit held in The Hague was felt. G7 leaders under the Hague Declaration affirmed: international law prohibits the acquisition of part or all of another state’s territory through coercion or force”.

Violating and disrespecting international system is the justification used by EU and US members for imposing sanctions on Russian authorities. The possibility seems highly likely of a suspension of economic cooperation between the EU and Russia. William Hague, UK Foreign Secretary, insinuated the end of Russian oil and gas reliance unless Russia reconsidering its actions.

“We condemn the illegal referendum held in Crimea in violation of Ukraine’s constitution. We also strongly condemn Russia’s illegal attempt to annex Crimea in contravention of international law and specific international obligations. We do not recognise either.”

Kremlin and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, ridicule the group’s decision to kick Russia out from the G8, stating that “The G8 is an informal club, there are no membership cards; nobody can expel anyone from it by definition so if our western partners believe that the format of the G8 has exhausted itself, so be it”.