All the world’s leaders came to Russia to discuss the main international problems with Putin. Sounds unbelievable? But it really happened

All the world’s leaders came to Russia to discuss the main international problems with Putin. Sounds unbelievable? But it really happened

In the fifth year of the war, it is hard to imagine that in 2006, when Russia was not yet in international isolation, a three-day G8 summit was held in St. Petersburg. Leaders of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Finland, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India, China, the Republic of the Congo, and the European Union attended.

The event was devoted to many issues, including trade between Russia and the United States, energy security, and the war between Israel and Lebanon. But the meeting was remembered in large part for its pleasant atmosphere. Vladimir Putin showed George W. Bush his Zaporozhets and also personally drove up in a golf cart to pick up the American delegation. U.S. presidential adviser Condoleezza Rice at first did not even recognize the Russian leader and took him for the driver.

On the anniversary of the start of the only G8 summit ever held in Russia, Meduza recalls what it was like and why left-wing forces protested the event.

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Russia has long been in international isolation. And yet 20 years ago all the world’s leaders were coming to St. Petersburg

In the fifth year of the war, this is hard to imagine, but there was a time when leaders from all over the world flew to Russia to discuss the main international problems together with Vladimir Putin. In 2006, when Russia was still a member of the G8, a three-day summit was held in St. Petersburg…