As of September 18, the work of the International Monetary Fund mission, which was supposed to take part in consultations with Russia, has been postponed indefinitely.
Points of attention
- The IMF postponed the work of the mission from the Russian Federation allegedly due to "technical unreadiness", although Moscow is ready to accept it anyway.
- The decision of the IMF to cooperate with Russia caused outrage in the European Union.
- The heads of the Ministries of Finance of Northern Europe, the Baltic States and Poland sent a letter to the IMF to change the fund's decision.
The IMF has so far refused to resume contacts with Russia
The executive director of the IMF from the Russian Federation, Oleksiy Mozhin, made an official statement on this matter.
The work of the IMF mission, which was supposed to participate in consultations with the Russian Federation, has been postponed indefinitely, he said.
However, Mozhin did not explain what actually happened and why the management of the fund suddenly changed its decision regarding the aggressor country.
According to the official, the mission postponed its work in Russia due to "technical unreadiness", but Moscow is still ready to accept it.
How the EU struggled with the IMF's decision regarding the Russian Federation
Recently, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, officially confirmed that the fund plans to interact with Russia on economic issues for the first time after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This provoked a wave of indignation on the part of individual members of the European Union.
First of all, this decision was harshly criticized by France, Belgium and Poland, as well as several Baltic and Northern European countries.
European leaders make no secret that they see this decision as an offer to dictator Putin of economic aid and the appearance of legitimacy, while the EU and the US seek to isolate Russia.
The representative of Lithuania also said during the meeting that the first mission of a major international organization to Russia since the full-scale invasion in February 2022 could be used as propaganda by Moscow to show that its international isolation is loosening.
In addition, it is emphasized that the heads of the Ministries of Finance of the Northern European and Baltic countries, as well as Poland, sent a letter to Georgieva to change her decision regarding the Russian Federation. Eventually they managed to do it.
