President Barack Obama and top western powers cancelled an upcoming G8 summit in Russia, seeking to deepen Moscow’s isolation over its intervention in the Ukraine crisis.
The G7 threatened tougher sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea, which has plunged relations between the West and Moscow to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War
After emergency talks called by Obama, it was announced that the G8 summit in Sochi in June would be replaced by a G7 meeting in Brussels, without Russian involvement.
Russian Forign Minister Lavrov was quoted as saying by reporters.“If our Western partners think that this format (the G8) has outlived itself, then so be it.