Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                Merkel: Russia at Economic Summit 'Unimaginable'

   by VOA News

   German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it is "unimaginable" for Russia to
   participate in a meeting of the world's leading industrialized
   countries as long as it is involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

   Speaking to the German Parliament in Berlin Thursday, Merkel said next
   month's Group of Seven meeting in Bavaria will not include Russia,
   which is accused of backing pro-Russia separatists fighting the Kyiv
   government.

   She noted that Russia took part in the previous summit of leading
   industrialized nations in Vilnius in 2013, but that was before Moscow's
   annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in breach of international law.

   Merkel said "a return to the G8 format" in not possible as long as
   Russia remains uncommitted to the fundamental values of international
   law.

   Later Thursday, she travels to Riga, Latvia, for a meeting of European
   Union leaders and those of the eastern European nations of Armenia,
   Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Russian President
   Vladimir Putin will not be attending.

   The U.S. and the European Union have accused Russia of fueling the
   conflict in eastern Ukraine by backing separatists in the Donetsk
   region with weapons and troops.

   Putin and other Russian officials have consistently denied that Russian
   soldiers are in eastern Ukraine, insisting that any Russians fighting
   there are "volunteers."

   According to the United Nations statistics, at least 6,000 people have
   been killed since fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/merkel-russia-taking-part-in-economic
   -summit-unimaginable/2780689.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/merkel-russia-taking-part-in-economic-summit-unimaginable/2780689.html