World leaders head to G8 summit amid foreign policy crisis

World leaders, tearing up a carefully prepared agenda for the annual Group of Eight summit, were to turn their attention to a growing crisis in the Middle East which highlighted the differences between them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had designed this year’s G8 economic summit, the first to be held in Russia, to showcase his country’s re-emergence on the world stage after a devastating economic collapse in 1998. He wanted to focus on energy security, the fight against infectious diseases and education.