The IMF delegation arrived in Moscow earlier this week to begin negotiations on an Extended Fund Facility, which would supplement a one-year $6.5 billion standby loan being used to help plug Russia's 1995 budget deficit.
The new loan would target long-term structural reforms in areas of taxation and banking, and in sectoral areas such as agriculture.
"The talks with the IMF mission are in full swing and close to completion," Interfax quoted Finance Minister Vladimir Panskov as saying after a government meeting Thursday.
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