IMF postpones mission to Russia indefinitely

Illustrative photo from open sources

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed a planned consultative mission with Russia indefinitely due to technical problems. Earlier, Ukraine and a number of European countries sharply opposed the resumption of cooperation between the fund and Moscow.

This was stated by Alexey Mozhin, the executive director of the Russian Federation at the IMF, Russian media reports.

"The IMF management informed the Russian side and the Board of Directors that the mission would be postponed indefinitely. The reason cited for the postponement was the mission's technical unpreparedness to conduct consultations," he said.

The IMF had previously said that its staff would begin virtual discussions with Russian authorities on September 16, and then travel to the country for in-person discussions. That visit is scheduled for October 1.

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Ukraine and its Western allies objected to the mission to Russia on the grounds that it would demonstrate normalization of relations with Russia despite the invasion and occupation of large parts of Ukraine.

This would mean that the IMF would be the first major international financial institution to send an official mission to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Mozhin said that the Russian side knows that many European countries "publicly spoke out about the unacceptability of resuming cooperation between the IMF and Russia, about the inadmissibility of holding such consultations".

According to Mozhin, preparations for the consultations in question began more than a year ago, and the initiative came from the fund's staff. "The Russian side has never asked for consultations, but has always expressed its readiness to accept the fund's mission to fulfill its obligations under the IMF Charter. The Russian side once again confirms such readiness,” he said.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga