IMF to dispatch first mission to Russia since Ukraine invasion

The IMF will become the first major international financial body to send its official mission to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Aleksei Mozhin, the IMF's Russian executive director, told Reuters on Sept 3.

Mr Mozhin said the International Monetary Fund mission would start via an online format on Sept 16, and will continue with an IMF delegation visit to Moscow for meetings with Russian officials until Oct 1.

The IMF’s last annual mission visited Russia in November 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been no IMF missions to Russia since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

"We were excluded from this process under pressure from our Western 'friends' and there were no further missions in 2022-23," Mr Mozhin said, from his IMF office in Washington.

The mission will be led by Argentinian Jacques Miniane.

Many Western nations raised the possibility of Russia’s expulsion from the IMF in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion, but that proved difficult because of reluctance from other members with large voting quotas such as China and India.

News.Az