Duma Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachev (Unified Russia) expressed bewilderment on 1 April at a 31 March U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee resolution calling on U.S. President George W. Bush to make efforts to suspend Russia\'s participation in the Group of Eight (G-8) leading industrialized countries. The U.S. resolution -- which was authored by Representatives Thomas Lantos (Democrat, California) and Christopher Cox (Republican, California), and Senators Joseph Lieberman (Democrat, Connecticut) and John McCain (Republican, Arizona) -- states that Russia should be excluded from the G-8 because it is not observing the principles of democracy. Koshachev said the U.S. resolution stems from a misunderstanding of the nature and function of the G-8. Speaking in Berlin, Foreign Minister Lavrov said on 1 April that the U.S. resolution is not serious and attributed it to election-year politics in the United States. (ITAR-TASS)