By Lidia Kelly and David Lawder
(Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it has postponed planned economic consultations with Russia that were due to start this week to gather more data and analysis to ensure “a rigorous consultation”.
The IMF had planned to conduct its routine “Article IV” assessment of Moscow’s economic policies for the first time since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but several European countries had objected to the re-engagment.
“Article IV consultations with Russia have been postponed while we gather all the necessary data and analysis for a rigorous consultation,” an IMF spokesperson said in a brief emailed statement.
The statement provided no further details on timing for the consultations, which are an annual requirement of IMF membership. The IMF’s last annual mission visited Russia in November 2019, before the start of the COVID pandemic.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s state TASS agency quoted Alexei Mozhin, Russia’s director at the IMF, as saying the consultations had been postponed for technical reasons.
“The Fund’s management notified the Russian side and the board of directors that the mission’s work would be postponed indefinitely,” Mozhin said.
“Technical unpreparedness of the mission to conduct consultations was mentioned as the reason for postponing the mission.”
Ukraine and its Western allies had objected to the mission to Russia on grounds that it would show relations with Russia to have been normalised despite the invasion and occupation of vast tracts of Ukrainian territory.
According to the TASS report, the IMF’s decision was communicated on Monday, the day the mission had intended to begin online consultations. These were to have been followed by an IMF delegation visit to Moscow for meetings with Russian officials.
Mozhin told TASS the Russian side was “well aware” that many European countries “had spoken out about the unacceptability of the resumption of cooperation between the IMF and Russia and the unacceptability of conducting such consultations”.
Preparations for conducting the consultations at issue had taken place more than a year ago and Russia, while never requesting a mission, was prepared to receive one as part of its obligations under IMF rules, Mozhin said.
“The Russian side hereby again confirms its preparedness,” he added.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and David Lawder in Chicago; Editing by Ron Popeski, Jamie Freed and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.