The Bank of Lithuania on Tuesday condemned the International Monetary Fund’s decision to resume economic consultations with Russia, saying that it fully supports the position voiced in a protest letter by the Baltic, Nordic, and Polish finance ministers.
Gediminas Šimkus, the central bank’s governor and Lithuania’s representative on the IMF Board, said in a statement that Russia, which started a war against Ukraine, should not receive advice from the IMF on how to bolster its economy and financial system.
“The IMF is the key international institution providing financial assistance to member countries facing balance of payments problems, including Ukraine,” he noted.
The IMF announced in early September that it would send a mission to Russia in October, its first since February 2022 when the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Lithuanian Finance Ministry said last Friday that the finance ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Poland have urged IMF Executive Director Kristalina Georgieva to reconsider the decision.
In their joint letter, the ministers emphasised that if the IMF resumes its missions to Russia, it will be the first international financial institution to renew cooperation with the Kremlin since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022.
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