The only G-8 summit Russia ever hosted was 20 years ago this week. The photos from St. Petersburg look unreal today, in the fifth year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In the fifth year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine, but there was a time when leaders from across the world flew to Russia to discuss major international issues with Vladimir Putin. In 2006, when Russia still belonged to the Group of 8, President George W. Bush of the United States, President Jacques Chirac of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen of Finland and José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, all descended on St. Petersburg for a three-day summit meeting. The leaders of Kazakhstan, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India, China and the Republic of Congo were there as observers.
The event covered a wide range of issues, including trade between Russia and the United States, energy security, and the war between Israel and Lebanon. On the anniversary of the only G-8 summit ever held in Russia, Meduza looks back at how it unfolded.
George W. Bush’s plane. St. Petersburg, July 4, 2006
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Laura Bush, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, and Lyudmila Putina in Strelna outside St. Petersburg, where they held an informal meeting ahead of the summit. July 14, 2006
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The U.S. president inspects Vladimir Putin’s first car, a 1972 Zaporozhets
Jason Reed / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
In the days before and during the summit, St. Petersburg saw a series of protests. Participants included Russia’s Communist Party (KPRF), the Left Front led by Ilya Ponomarev, the Vanguard of Red Youth with Sergei Udaltsov, the NBP, and the anarchist group Front AIDS. Over two days, police detained more than 60 people
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Oxfam activists protest, demanding that poverty reduction be the summit’s central theme
Dmitry Beliakov / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Vladimir Putin picked up the U.S. president and his advisers Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley
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An informal dinner for G8 leaders and their spouses ahead of the summit. Pictured: Bernadette Chirac, French President Jacques Chirac, Lyudmila Putina, Vladimir Putin, and Laura Bush. The Grand Palace at Peterhof, July 15, 2006
Gilles Bassignac / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images
Condoleezza Rice calls U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Charles Ommanney / Getty Images
Charles Ommanney / Getty Images
Protests outside the Russian Embassy in Belarus. Demonstrators demanded that Russia stop supporting Alexander Lukashenko. About 30 people were detained. Minsk, July 16, 2006
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Golf carts carrying national leaders head to the summit. July 16
Stefan Rousseau / PA Images / Getty Images
Charles Ommanney / Getty Images
Getty Images / Scanpix / LETA
An action by the Peter Alexeyev Resistance Movement and the Belarusian social movement Razam. On July 16, they hung a banner reading “G8 — Carnival in a Reservation” from the railings of the Palace Bridge. The action was timed to coincide with the launch of the musical fountain at the tip of Vasilyevsky Island
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz (second from left). July 17, 2006
Jason Reed / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, French President Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walk to a group photo session. July 17, 2006
Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush
Charles Ommanney / Getty Images
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And when did it stop being a member?
After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia was expelled, and the “Group of Eight” became the “Group of Seven.”
Which war?
This refers to the 2006 Lebanon War, known in Israel as the Second Lebanon War. It began when Hezbollah militants attacked a border patrol and fired rockets and mortars at a border area in northern Israel. Israel responded with a ground operation that lasted 34 days, alongside bombing that reached the entire country.
By the war’s end, control of southern Lebanon passed entirely from Hezbollah to Lebanese army units and U.N. peacekeepers. About 1,400 people were killed on both sides, more than two-thirds of them Lebanese civilians.