MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday Moscow was not asking for a return to the Group of Eight industrialised nations, RIA news agency reported.

The G7 - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - brought Russia into what was known as the G8 in 1998 but suspended its membership last year after Moscow annexed Crimea.

The G7 meets at the weekend.