G7 not about to welcome back Russia, German official says

BERLIN (Reuters) - The Group of Seven (G7) leading industry nations are not about to readmit Russia to their club, a senior German government official said on Friday. Moscow's membership in the G8 group was suspended in 2014 after Russian troops invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The German government official also said that Berlin expected the summit of G7 leaders in Japan next week to discuss sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukraine crisis. The extension or lifting of these sanctions is linked to the implementation of the Minsk peace deal and thus to Moscow's cooperation in the efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, the official added. Berlin was not expecting any call for an extension of the sanctions against Russia to be mentioned in the G7 communique issued at the end of the meeting, the government official said. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber,; Editing by Paul Carrel)