Estonian Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform) sent a joint letter with his Baltic, Nordic and Polish counterparts last week to IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva to express their disappointment.

"As the Estonian representative on the Board of Governors of the IMF I would like to express my full support for the letter and its content," Müller said in a statement.

He said the IMF provides consultation to member states under its Article IV that gives high-quality expert advice on how to strengthen each nation's economic policy and financial sector.

"I cannot support the decision of the IMF to provide this expert advice to Russia at a time when that country is engaged in an illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. An aggressor state that blatantly breaks international norms and agreements should not be able to receive the public goods provided by international institutions," the governor said.

Nine European countries protested on Friday (September 13) against the IMF's plans to resume missions to Russia, saying it would damage the reputation of the Fund to resume dialogue with a country that has invaded another, Euractiv reported.

The letter of protest was sent by Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Poland.

The IMF said on Thursday (September 12) that its planned visit to Russia was in line with its regular obligations as well as those of Russia as a member country.

The IMF's last annual mission visited Russia in November 2019. There have been no missions to Russia since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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