Washington, May 22 (RFE/RL) -- White House spokesman Michael McCurry says Russian President Boris Yeltsin will participate in the annual summit of the G-7 group of major industrial nations in Lyon, France at the end of June irregardless of the outcome of the June 16th election.
McCurry told reporters in Washington yesterday that even if Yeltsin does not win re-election at the first stage of the balloting in mid-June, a new president will not have been inaugurated until after the G-7 meetings, scheduled for June 27-29.
"It is President Yeltsin's place," said McCurry. "He's been the only Russian leader that has participated in the political discussions that accompany the G-7 session."
The U.S. spokesman would not speculate on what would happen at future summits if a Communist were elected President of Russia. However, said McCurry, the G-7 members -- the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, Italy and Canada -- believe this is a "very important relationship" for Russia and that it depends "to a very large extent on what type of policies they pursue in the world."
He said the G-7 members would expect Russia under any president "to remain committed to peaceful democratic relations with countries that share democratic and market economic values."