EU countries warn the IMF about reputational risks in case of resumption of cooperation with Russia
The finance ministers of Poland, the Northern European countries and the Baltic countries sent a letter to the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, warning of reputational risks for the IMF, which is going to send a mission to Moscow in October. Diplomats who are aware of the situation, but are not authorized to comment to the mass media, told RFE/RL about this.
The signatories of the letter – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland – express deep dissatisfaction with the IMF’s plans and insist that such a move would make the International Monetary Fund the first major international financial institution to resume cooperation with the Russian authorities after a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine.
The authors of the letter insist that an aggressor country should not have access to a share of the global public goods offered by international institutions, such as the IMF’s high-quality country-specific macroeconomic and financial policy advice. Even the financial data provided by the government of the Russian Federation cannot be trusted, according to the representatives of the nine countries that signed the appeal to the International Monetary Fund.
On September 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed concern over reports that the International Monetary Fund plans to resume cooperation with Russia and send a mission to Moscow.
On September 4, a message was published on the IMF’s website that the fund’s mission will visit Russia to discuss the country’s “economic development and politics.” According to the permanent representative of the IMF in Russia, Annette Kiobe, the fund’s team will hold virtual discussions from September 16, and then go to the country for face-to-face meetings.
This may be the first IMF mission to Russia since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
