The International Monetary Fund has postponed its mission to Russia, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
The cancellation of the mission was announced by IMF Executive Director for Russia Alexei Mozhin. The Russian TASS news agency claims that the mission has been postponed indefinitely.
Earlier, the IMF said it would resume its reviews of the Russian economy. The Fund explained its decision by the fact that the economic situation in Russia has become more stable compared to the previous period. And the economic review, which is conducted under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, is a “mutual obligation” of the Fund and its members, and, according to Alfred Kammer, head of the IMF’s European Department, now is the time when the Fund can provide economic analysis.
The discussions between the IMF and Russian officials were to begin virtually on 16 September, with a delegation from the IMF travelling to Russia for face-to-face meetings starting on 1 October.
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However, these intentions drew a lot of criticism and misunderstanding, as they were perceived by many as an attempt to legalise contacts with the aggressor state. A number of European countries demanded explanations from the Foundation and were obviously against this initiative.
The United States, however, does not object to the annual review of Russia’s economy, although Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stated that she opposes providing Moscow with financial support from the IMF.
Strangely enough, the Ukrainian information space has also found defenders of the IMF’s decision to resume its mission in Russia (albeit those affiliated with the Fund itself). As Vladislav Rashkovan, the IMF’s deputy executive director for Ukraine, wrote on Facebook, the IMF’s possible mission to Russia is not a betrayal of Ukraine. On the contrary, this mission should provide us with much-needed information about the Russian economy, which is currently unavailable.
“…now it will be a surveillance mission, in which the IMF will analyse the Russian economy, and the Russian authorities will have to provide all the necessary economic and statistical reports on their economy. I would like to remind you that at the moment there is no such analysis with trustworthy data… The IMF can only guess what is happening in their economy and non-aggregated reporting, receiving data only through indirect methods. We and all our Western partners are guessing. But we would still like to know. For example, the Article IV report on Ukraine is available on the IMF website. That is, Russia knows about our economy, but we and our partners do not know about their economy for sure,”
– Rashkovan wrote when the IMF announced its intentions regarding the Russian mission.