FACT CHECK: Russia’s membership in the G8 was suspended in 2014, not 2004 

Claim: Russia’s membership in the inter-governmental forum Group of Eight (G8) was suspended in 2004.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video containing the claim has over 197,559 views as of writing.

Real date of Russia’s suspension from G8: Russia’s membership in the G8 was suspended a decade after what is claimed in the video. According to news reports of Reuters, The New York Times, BBC, CNN, and The Guardian, the G8 suspended Russia’s membership in the forum in 2014 after its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. 

According to a Reuters report published in 2020, the suspension remains in effect. 

What happened in 2004? Russia’s fellow former Soviet Union republics Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania officially became members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 29, 2004.

In 1955, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact in response to the formation of NATO, setting off the Cold War.

NATO also welcomed Bulgaria and Romania as official members of the group on March 29, 2004. Both countries are members of the Eastern Bloc, a group of eastern European countries under the influence of the Soviet Union. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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