According to Russian state-controlled news agency TASS, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indefinitely postponed its planned visit to Russia. This visit, which was supposed to be the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was set to take place in an online format on Sept. 16, followed by a visit to Moscow. The mission was to be led by Argentine economist Jacques Miniane.
However, the decision to travel to Moscow was met with criticism from several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states. Politico reported that the IMF had initially suggested holding the meeting in a third country, but eventually agreed to the Kremlin‘s condition to travel to Russia. The IMF’s Russian executive director, Alexei Mozhin, stated that the visit was postponed due to technical unpreparedness on the visiting side, but Russia is still willing to host the visit.
Mozhin will be stepping down from his position in November and will be replaced by Ksenia Yudaeva, a former first deputy governor at Russia’s Central Bank and current adviser to its governor, Elvira Nabiullina. Yudaeva was sanctioned by the U.S. in April 2022 for her ties to the Central Bank and the Otkritie commercial bank, which was also sanctioned on the day the full-scale invasion began. As per the sanctions, Yudaeva is not allowed to enter the U.S., where the IMF’s headquarters are located.
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