Left out of G7 summit, Putin wishes world leaders bon appetit -...

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, shut out of a G7 summit over Russia's role in Ukraine, parried the snub on Thursday (June 5) with a terse message for world leaders who lunched without him in Brussels on Thursday: "Bon appetit."

Putin should have been hosting the heads of leading industrialized nations at a summit of the G8 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi this week.

But the G7 nations scotched those plans in protest against Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March, and the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan held their summit without him.

Asked how he felt about this, Putin barely broke stride to spit out an answer to Kremlin reporters who had been advised to await him at the bottom of a sweeping staircase at the Russian Geographical Society after a meeting on Arctic policy.

"I would like to wish them bon appetit," he said, using the Russian equivalent of the phrase, and then walked away swiftly.

Russia joined the G7 in 1997, making it the G8 and marking a milestone in Moscow's rapprochement with the West after the collapse of communism and breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

But the crisis in Ukraine has driven Russia's relations with the United States and European Union to a post-Cold War low. Western nations have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials, lawmakers and companies close to Putin.

At the G7 summit, which was ending on Thursday, the leaders threatened to impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia if it did not help restore stability to eastern Ukraine, where Western nations accuse Moscow of supporting separatists.

Putin's isolation from the West is only partial. From St. Petersburg he was flying to France, where he was to have supper with President Francois Hollande later on Thursday before taking part in D-Day 70th anniversary commemorations on Friday.

Putin was also expected to hold separate meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron while in France, but no meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled.

This comes after President Obama said Putin must recognize and work with Ukraine's new government and stop "provocations" along its border, or face tougher sanctions from members of the G7 group of nations.

"We will have a chance to see what Mr. Putin does over the next two, three, four weeks, and if he remains on the current course then we've already indicated the kinds of actions that we're prepared to take," Obama told at a news conference at the end of a G7 summit.

The president added that he would have preferred it if France had held back on the sale of Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia.

Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, hours after joining fellow industrial powers in threatening further sanctions against Russia, said he wants to maintain good relations with Moscow.

"Under normal circumstances, President (Vladimir) Putin would have been attending this summit," Abe told a news conference in Brussels, televised in Japan, after a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized powers.

"I want Russia to be involved in various issues concerning the international community in a constructive manner. That's what the world desires too. To this end I'm hoping to continue dialogue with President Putin."

The G7 on Wednesday said it would impose harder-hitting sanctions on Russia if it does not help restore stability to eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatist militias continue to operate at will.

Abe in recent months has been seeking a delicate balance with Moscow.

Before Russia seized Crimea from neighboring Ukraine earlier this year, Abe had made better relations with resource-rich Russia a priority of his foreign policy.

He met with Putin five times in his first year in office. But more recently Japan has signed on to G7 sanctions against Russia while trying keep relations on an even keel.

REUTERS

Left out of G7 summit, Putin wishes world leaders "bon appetit"