G8 at risk

The Group of Eight (G8) is a forum for the governments of a group of eight leading industrialized countries. The forum originated with a 1975 summit hosted by France that brought together representatives of six governments: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, thus leading to the name Group of Six or G6. The summit became known as the Group of Seven or G7 the following year with the addition of Canada. The G7 is composed by the 7 developed wealthiest countries on Earth (as national net wealth) and by the 7 developed wealthiest countries on Earth by GDP, and it remains active despite the creation of the G8. In 1998 Russia was added to the group which then became known as the G8. The European Union is represented within the G8 but cannot host or chair summits.

Due to Russia's involvement in the 2014 Crimean crisis, the status of Russia's membership in the G8 is at risk. Later on, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius claimed that Russia was suspended from the G8; however, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal clarified that Russia would remain a G8 member, and only the Sochi meeting would be suspended. The next meeting G8 and EU and a locality of the UK should replace Sochi in the 4th week of March 2014 (as proposed by the USA President Barak Obama).

On March 20, 2014 German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated a suspension of all future G-8 meetings due to the ongoing crisis in Crimea. She further indicated that the G-8 was effectively dissolved and would remain suspended pending changes to the political situation.