Ukraine and Western delegations walk out of IMF session during Russian finance minister's speech
At a plenary session of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee in Bangkok, the head of Ukraine's central bank and leaders of several Western delegations left the room while Russia's finance minister was speaking.
Andriy Pyshnyi, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), and heads of several Western delegations walked out of a plenary session in Bangkok, Thailand, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings. They left while Russian Finance Minister Siluanov was delivering his speech. The session belonged to the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the IMF's advisory body that discusses global economic and financial matters.
Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda described the move as a demarche, a formal diplomatic protest, against the Russian minister. The source does not say how many delegations joined Ukraine or which ones, and it gives no details of the stated reasons or any official statements about the walkout.
The episode took place on 17 October 2026. It shows that Ukraine and its Western partners are also using meetings of international financial institutions to signal their position toward Russian officials speaking there.
