Keep Putin’s ‘spanner’ out of G7, Harper says
Leader is ‘deliberately troublesome’
Prime Minister Stephen Harper expanded at length Monday on his antipathy toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and why he wanted Russia kicked out of the old G8 even before it breached Ukraine’s borders.
Harper said he doesn’t want Putin back because he simply doesn’t share the values of the group. He said the G7 is doing well in its new form after completing a second summit without the mercurial Russian leader.
Harper commended the G7 leaders’ statement on the Russia-Ukraine crisis as strong, praising its commitment to keep sanctions on Russia in place and “to escalating those sanctions if necessary.”
During Monday’s conclusion of the G7 summit, Harper expanded on his reasoning behind the hard line position he has taken with Putin. Harper has refused to engage with Putin, unlike many of his fellow leaders, who do so in search of a diplomatic solution to the hostilities.
“I came of the view, some time before the invasion of Ukraine, that his presence at the table of the G7 was not productive — in fact was inhibiting the kinds of discussions, the kinds of co-operation we could be having on a broad range of international issues,” Harper said.
“Even though Russia may objectively share security interests with us in the West, Mr. Putin makes it his business to just deliberately be troublesome — to throw a spanner in the works wherever he can.
“And, of course, the final outrage was actually trying to erase boundaries by force in Ukraine.”
Harper, making his final appearance at a major international summit before the expected Oct. 19 federal election, also shed light on how he has come to view the multilateral system.
Harper said there was great hope during the 1990s that when Russia was admitted to what was then the G7-plus-one, its exposure to the other members would help it grow democratically and economically — and adopt the G7’s values.
“The G7 is not the United Nations. The G7 is not even the G20 — the G7 is a group of countries who share fundamental values and objectives in the world,” Harper said.
“We also share similar values — deep, progressive and aggressive commitments toward democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law — and of course we share security interests. We are all committed to each others’ collective security.
“Mr. Putin fits none of these definitions — none of them.”
Harper’s debut on the international stage came at the G8 summit hosted by Putin in Saint Petersburg in 2006.
“We believe that the Russian people, especially the younger generations, want the kind of free and democratic life that we have in the West,” Harper said. “None of these things have happened. Mr. Putin used the rise in oil prices to create a very different type of economy, dominated by oligarchs and criminal syndicates.”
U.S. President Barack Obama used his G7 news conference to level some harsh personal criticism at Putin, saying the Russian president has to decide whether he wants to continue damaging the country’s economy “in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire.”