..........   Merz also dismissed Trump’s oft-stated complaint that Russia should not have been pushed out of what’s now the Group of 7 countries. In his conversation with the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes POLITICO, Merz said Russian leader VLADIMIR PUTIN has “no business” at the table with other world powers.

“Excluding Putin from the G8 format following the annexation of Crimea, as it was called back then, remains correct,” Merz said. “In this format, we are not sitting at the table with warlords and not with war criminals.”

Merz also said Europe would welcome new U.S. sanctions on Russia, but acknowledged that Trump appears resistant to that idea for now.     ..........