Commenting on an article that appeared in the Monday edition of leading business daily Kommersant, Gennady Yezhov said, "Such assumptions are the private opinion of some participants of a conference that had a certain anti-Russian orientation... and it is the viewpoint of persons who have nothing to do with the decision-making in this influential club."
Kommersant reported Monday that after the London conference, G7 finance ministers said they intended to hold a meeting in Washington. Based on this information, the newspaper concluded that there would be no Moscow "meeting" of finance ministers, which had been planned for February 2006, and no Russian G8 presidency.
Yezhov denied the report, saying the G8 summit and four finance ministerial meetings would be held in Russia as planned. He said the finance ministers would also meet in Washington and Singapore in the fall and spring.
Yezhov said Russia, which will chair the G8 but is excluded from the G7 finance ministers meeting, would discuss and implement initiatives to boost the organization's activities.
