The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump was right to assert that it had been a big mistake to expel Russia from the Group of Eight in 2014, but that the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked "rather useless" now.

World leaders had gathered in Canada with the specific goal of helping to defuse a series of pressure points, only to be disrupted by a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program.

The Kremlin responded on Tuesday. “We agree with President Trump: it was a big mistake then to exclude Russia from the G8 format,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.