IMF to Send Mission to Russia for First Time Since Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to send its first mission to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, according to IMF's Russian Executive Director Aleksei Mozhin in a statement to Reuters on September 3.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics and former Minister of Economy of Ukraine, stated on X that “this move "undermines international efforts to pressure and isolate Russia.”

The last IMF mission to Russia took place in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mission, led by Argentine economist Jacques Miniane, will initially start online before an IMF delegation visits Moscow in October.

This development has not yet been announced on the IMF's website or social media channels.

"We were excluded from this process under pressure from our Western 'friends,' and there were no further missions in 2022-23," Mozhin said when speaking to Reuters.

Mozhin will step down from his role in November and confirmed to AFP on September 3 that he will be succeeded by Ksenia Yudaeva, the former first deputy governor of Russia's Central Bank and current advisor to its governor, Elvira Nabiullina.

Yudaeva, who was sanctioned by the US in April 2022 due to her connections with the Central Bank and the Otkrytie commercial bank, which was also sanctioned on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, faces a US travel ban as a result.

Mozhin stated that Yudaeva will initially manage the office from Moscow but did not specify if she plans to move to the Washington, D.C. office later.