MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia intends to discuss resumption of the work of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the state at the bank's board of governors meeting in May, Andrei Bokarev, the director of International Finance Affairs Department of Russia's Ministry of Finance, said Saturday.
"It is an exaggeration to say that we are holding talks with EBRD [on resumption of its funding projects in Russia]. The situation now is the same as it was a few months ago. Russia plans to raise issue at the upcoming board of governors meeting, which will be held in May 2017," Bokarev told RIA Novosti.
"…In case the bank’s leadership does not take the decision on lifting any of immunity in a particular part, it will be almost impossible to engage the bank in the legal process," Bokarev said.
Following the introduction of Western sanctions against Russian banks and companies in 2014, the EBRD suspended new Russian investment on a recommendation of the majority of the bank's shareholders.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was established in 1991. The EBRD's shareholders comprise 64 countries, the European Union and the European Investment Bank. The bank operates in more than 30 countries from Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia, as well as in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.
