OREANDA-NEWS. The Board of Directors of the Asian Bank for Infrastructure Investment (AIIB) has approved the issuance of a loan to Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development said in a statement to the Russian media. The ministry explained that the $ 500 million loan allocated to finance a pilot Russian project in the AIIB portfolio will be the first since 2014 to be received by Moscow from an international development institute with the participation of Western shareholders (75 states participate in the AIIB, including not only Asian countries, but also Great Britain, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain, etc.).

“Such an initiative, of course, would run into fierce resistance in other international institutions. However, as part of the AIIB, our Western partners are forced to reckon with the position of the rest of the world. This proves that the policy of sanctions restrictions cannot last forever”, commented the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin on the provision of the loan.

The Ministry of Economic Development emphasized that a loan from AIIB would be cheaper than obtaining funds by issuing sovereign Eurobonds.