PARIS: The French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has said that the Group of Eight (G8) has suspended Russia’s participation in their meetings.
However, Fabius said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is still invited to visit France on June 6.
“At the moment, he is still invited. As for the G8 as a political formation for the dialogue of all big states together, we have decided to suspend the participation of Russia, there will be seven countries that gather [for the summit] – without Russia,” Fabius told Europe 1 radio.
On Monday, the United States and the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against Russian and the Ukrainian officials after Crimea declared its independence following a referendum in which Crimean population overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation.
The US imposed sanctions against 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials while the EU applied sanctions against 21 officials.
