IMF REPORTED SATISFIED WITH RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC PROGRESS.

Aleksandr Shokhin, first deputy speaker of the Russian Duma and a former first deputy premier, says his talks this week with IMF deputy managing director Stanley Fischer have convinced him that the IMF team now in Moscow is satisfied with Russia’s economic progress and that the IMF will therefore continue its loan support to Russia over the coming months. (Itar-Tass, January 20)

Diamond Deal Said Ready for Signature.