'Family photos' from world summit show Putin's isolation
The Associated Press
Updated
President Biden, third from left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, and other G7 leaders pose for a photo before a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
They're known as “family photos,” the images of world leaders posed in faux relaxation during global summits.
And like portraits of a family that has isolated a dysfunctional member, recent “family photos” from the G7 and G8 — the world's most industrialized nations — show how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been outcast.
The Russian president has faced unprecedented international isolation since his nation invaded Ukraine in February 2022. An International Criminal Court arrest warrant hangs over his head and clouds his prospects of traveling to many destinations, including those viewed as Moscow’s allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center rear, joins G7 world leaders at a working session on the final day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. From left: Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Zelenskyy, European Council President Charles Michel, Gianluigi Benedetti, Italian ambassador to Japan, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and France's President Emmanuel Macron. (AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
It was only 10 years ago when Putin stood proudly among his peers at the time – former U.S. President Barack Obama, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — at a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. But Russia has since been kicked out of the group, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, for illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.
Images from the G7 summit this year show leaders of the same governments, minus Putin.
As they were, 10 years ago: G8 leaders from left, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy pose during a group photo opportunity during the G-8 summit at the Lough Erne golf resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
