These are known as “family photos” – images of world leaders taking mock vacations at world summits.
And like portraits of a family that isolated a dysfunctional member, the latest “family photos” from the G7 and G8, the world’s most industrialized nations, show how far Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone.
The Russian president has faced unprecedented international isolation since his country invaded Ukraine in February 2022. An International Criminal Court arrest warrant hangs over his head and clouds his prospects for travel to many destinations, including Moscow’s allies.
It was only 10 years ago that Putin stood proudly among his then peers – former US President Barack Obama, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. But Russia has since been kicked out of the group, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, for illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.
Pictures from this year’s G8 summit show the same heads of government, with the exception of Putin.