STRELNA, (near St. Petersburg), July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia does not intend to raise the matter of expanding the Group of Eight club of rich nations, a Russian presidential spokesman said Saturday.
"Russia is a new member of the G8, although it has already gained substantial experience, but it is not up to us to raise the issue of the group's enlargement, especially since many states have shown no interest in this," Dmitry Peskov said.
Another Kremlin aide said earlier Russia was willing to discuss G8 expansion, but no one had yet proposed addressing the issue at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg.
Sergei Prikhodko said, "We are not planning to make any such proposals and we have not yet received proposals from our partners to discuss the issue."
