International Monetary Fund to Send Mission to Russia.

The IMF will send an official mission to Moscow for the first Time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Starting from September 16, the mission will begin its work online and then travel to Moscow for meetings with Russian officials by October 1. The last visit of the annual IMF mission to Russia took place in November 2019.

The mission will be led by Jacques Miniane from Argentina. Russia's IMF representative Alexei Mozhin, who oversaw Russia's accession to the organization in 1992, plans to retire on November 1 and will assist the IMF mission. He will be replaced by central bank head Ksenia Yudayeva, who is a close associate of central bank head Elvira Nabiullina.

This step by the IMF has elicited mixed reactions, as some Western countries criticize the organization for overly optimistic forecasts regarding the Russian economy and warnings against confiscating frozen Russian assets.

Since the start of the war, some Western member countries have even discussed the possibility of excluding Russia from the IMF, but this has been difficult to implement due to resistance from China and India.

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