YASIN SAYS RUSSIA READY TO MEET IMF DEMANDS.

Interviewed on Russian television on July 28, Russian economics minister Yevgeny Yasin admitted what has been reported in Russian and Western news reports: that during Russia’s recent presidential elections the International Monetary Fund turned a blind eye toward Russia’s violations of IMF conditions. (NTV, July 28) The IMF has denied giving Russia special treatment. (See letters to The Economist, July 27) However Yasin told NTV that, "The IMF regards with understanding the situation that existed in the run-up to the election and slightly relaxed the demands made on us." Everyone understood, Yasin said, that indulgence could be shown during the election campaign but that, as soon as the elections were over, the IMF would get tougher. Yasin said he was confident that, when the IMF mission visits Moscow in August, all remaining problems related to the IMF’s extended Fund facility loan to Russia would be resolved. The Russian government, he underlined, is now ready to observe all of the agreed-upon financial conditions set by the IMF, the most important of which is reducing the budget deficit.

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