Eight’s a Crowd

... rights, coupled with the start of a general campaign on the part of major developing countries, inevitably led to the development of a second scenario. An attempt was made in 2008 to squeeze Russia out of the group by holding a separate meeting of the G7 ministers of foreign affairs. In 2012, Vladimir Putin failed to attend the G8 Summit in the US, citing the need to stay at home to form his government following the general elections (the sides were still treading carefully – Dmitry Medvedev was sent in Putin’s stead, and the NATO Summit was geographically removed ...