„It was definitely a very unpleasant surprise to find out that the International Monetary Fund is willing to resume its mission in Russia when the war is not over yet. It would show a really very bad attitude that we are returning to business as usual when the war is fully raging. It would send a very bad signal to the international community,“ Skaistė told Žinių radijas on Thursday.
The IMF is regularly providing funds to Ukraine and both supporting Ukraine and consulting Russia on its economy seem ’somewhat schizophrenic’, the minister added.
Skaistė said the good news is that the IMF decided to delay its decision for an infinite time after all.
„Lithuania has brought together a group of like-minded countries in the region. (&) And it seems to me that this has borne fruit. It seems to me that our move has made the IMF rethink its move. The public comments in the media show that the IMF’s decision to resume its mission in Russia has been postponed indefinitely,“ the minister said, adding it was a good decision given all the potential reputational risks.
The Finance Ministry said Friday that Lithuania, together with other countries in the region, had strongly condemned the IMF’s plan to resume cooperation with Russia by carrying out economic consultations and visiting the aggressor country.
The finance ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Poland had appealed to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to review the decision taken.
In a joint letter to the IMF, the ministers urged the institution to respect the objectives of the United Nations Charter and to refrain from any resumption of cooperation with Russia as long as the country continues its war against Ukraine.