IMF mission delays work in Russia indefinitely

The announcement came from Aleksei Mozhin, Russia's executive director at the IMF, in an interview with the state-run TASS news agency.

“Yesterday, September 16, the day the IMF mission was set to begin under Article 4 consultations, the Fund’s management informed Russia and the board of directors that the mission would be postponed indefinitely due to ‘technical unreadiness,’” Mozhin said.

He went on to point out that Russia was fully aware of public statements by European countries opposing the resumption of IMF-Russia cooperation, with some explicitly deeming consultations unacceptable.

Despite this, Mozhin claimed that Russia has always been ready to accommodate the IMF's mission in line with its obligations under the IMF charter.

“The topic of consultations under Article 4 was raised by IMF staff a year ago, and even a year and a half ago. The initiative always came from the Fund. Russia never requested these consultations but was consistently willing to host the mission to fulfill its obligations under the IMF charter,” Mozhin emphasized.

Background

On September 13, it was revealed that the IMF intended to send a team to Moscow to assess the Russian economy.

Ukraine and its Western allies opposed the mission, arguing that it would signal a normalization of relations with Russia despite the ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory.

If carried out, this mission would have made the IMF the first major international financial organization to officially engage with Russia since the full-scale invasion. The IMF’s last mission to Russia took place in November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.