(Bloomberg) -- Estonia’s central bank chief joined a group of European finance ministers in criticizing the International Monetary Fund’s plan to restart reviews of Russia economy for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine.
Madis Muller, who acts as the Baltic country’s representative to the IMF’s Board of Governors, said in a written statement on Monday that “an aggressor state that flagrantly violates international norms and agreements should not receive a share of the benefits offered by international institutions.”
That makes him the first member of the European Central Bank’s interest rate-setting body to publicly raise objections to the Washington-based lender’s plan to engage again with Russia on economic issues.
The IMF said last week that it’s resuming annual reviews of Russia’s economy because the economic situation is “more settled” than before. It argues that the review, known as an Article IV evaluation, is a “mutual obligation” of the fund and its members.
At a meeting of EU envoys last week, France, Belgium and Poland, as well as several Baltic and Nordic nations, said they were surprised by the IMF’s decision, according to people familiar with the matter.
A group of nine Baltic and Nordic countries also sent a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva Friday, expressing concern over a process that they said risks leading toward normalizing relations with Moscow.
--With assistance from Milda Seputyte.
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