The claim that the G7 has lost its sway is presented as a sweeping assessment by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported by DEA News. Her remarks frame the group as having ceded influence in today’s geopolitical landscape and suggest that its authority no longer guides global policy in the way it once did.
Zakharova argues that the G7’s diminished authority helped catalyze the emergence of the G20, a shift she attributes to the failure of the G7 to meet the challenges posed by the 2008 financial crisis. She notes that the world’s needs in that period required mobilizing real multipolar forces that could break what she describes as a new American-driven dynamic and its consequences, rather than relying on a small group of Western powers.
In her view, current G7 members are engaged in drawing lines of division in international relations, attempting to impose policy preferences on other countries and coordinating pressure strategies against governments that dissent. According to Zakharova, this behavior amounts to political propaganda rather than constructive governance, a characterization she uses to describe the group’s recent conduct.
Traditionally, the G7 comprises the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Japan, and the United States. After Russia’s exclusion from the G8 in 2014, the bloc was reshaped to reflect the evolving geopolitical order, with persistent debates about its relevance in a multipolar world. The dialogue around its role remains contentious among many capitals that watch the group for signals about Western economic and political alignment.
Leaders closely associated with the White House have indicated that the summit in Hiroshima, scheduled for May 19–21, would address what officials describe as new measures against the Russian Federation. The meetings have been framed as opportunities to reassess collective approaches, yet observers note the underlying tensions and the broad spectrum of regional interests that challenge a unified stance among G7 members. At the same time, analysts suggest that broader coalitions and regional blocs may increasingly shape responses to shared security and economic concerns, sometimes outside the G7 framework, which feeds the ongoing debate about the bloc’s strategic value. Attribution: DEA News