Participant stands near the World Bank logo of the International Monetary Fund – World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. REUTERS / Johannes P. Christo
WASHINGTON, March 2 – The World Bank said Wednesday it had suspended all programs in Russia and Belarus immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and “hostilities against the people of Ukraine.”
In a statement, the multilateral development bank said it had not approved any new loans or investments in Russia since 2014, the year Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean region.
The bank has said it has not approved new lending to Belarus since mid-2020, when the United States imposed sanctions on the country over a contested presidential election.
The World Bank’s loan commitments to Belarus amount to $ 308 million in 2020, according to the bank’s website, with active projects, including a biomass heating project, forestry development work and education modernization.
Since the early 1990s, the World Bank has lent Russia more than $ 16 billion. The latest approved projects, including a youth program in the North Caucasus in 2013 and a cultural heritage program in 2010, show the bank’s website.
The decision to suspend all programs in Russia and Belarus came a day after World Bank and International Monetary Fund leaders said they were vying to provide billions of dollars in additional funding to Ukraine in the coming weeks and months, warning it could lead to war in Ukraine. “significant spillovers” to other countries. Read more
The European Union, the United States, Britain and others have imposed a wide range of sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. Read more
They also imposed asset freezes, travel bans and other restrictions on many Russians, including President Vladimir Putin himself.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”
Report by Andrea Shalal in Washington Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis
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