IMF halts mission to Russia after EU objections, Russian media say

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The International Monetary Fund has postponed the resumption of consultations with the Russian government following objections from European countries, which argued that cooperation with an aggressor would play into the hands of Kremlin propaganda.

Source: Russian media The Moscow Times, citing TASS, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet

The IMF mission, which was initially set to start on 16 September, has been delayed, according to Russia’s IMF Executive Director Alexei Mozhin. 

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Quote: “The IMF leadership informed the Russian side and the board of directors that the mission’s work would be postponed indefinitely. The reason given for the delay was the technical unpreparedness of the mission to conduct consultations.”

Following online consultations, which were scheduled to begin this week, the IMF delegation planned to visit Moscow for meetings with officials on 1 October.

Sources from Bloomberg and Politico said the IMF initially proposed holding in-person consultations in a third country but eventually agreed to travel to Russia.

Background:

• Several European Union countries have challenged IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s decision to engage with Russia on economic issues for the first time since the beginning of full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Andrii Pyshnyi and Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko urged the IMF to cancel the mission to Russia, which was aimed at consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s statutes.
• The last time an IMF mission visited Russia for an annual consultation was in November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF suspended cooperation after Vladimir Putin launched the war in Ukraine. The decision to resume the mission was explained by the IMF as a response to Russia’s stabilised economic situation and the institution’s duty to review the situation in every member country “in the interest of all its members”.

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