Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing argued on Friday that it would help defuse tensions between Russia and the West if the Group of Seven became a Group of Eight again with Russia rejoining it.
"I believe that [the G8] is an important format for dealing with the current political crisis. It must be Russia's own decision whether it should participate in it or not," Giscard told reporters during a presentation in Moscow of his book "La Victoire de la Grande Armee."
"[The G8] is not a political association. There are the summits of the G20 to deal with politics, for example. The Group of Eight is above all an economic association," he said.
Giscard was a co-founder of the Group of Six, the predecessor of the G7.
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