Argentina in talks with Moscow to reduce dependency on US and IMF

 Argentina has begun talks with Russia aimed at reducing its economic dependence on the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"We have to open up to other countries and Russia can play an important role in this," Argentine President Alberto Fernández said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

He also offered Putin help in deepening Russia's entry into the Latin American market.

Buenos Aires recently agreed to repay the loans of around $44 billion to the IMF, after months of negotiations.

Argentina is heavily indebted to the fund and relations between the two are strained. Many people in Argentina blame the IMF for social hardship after the state went bankrupt in the early 2000s.

Russian vaccines

At the meeting in Moscow, Fernández thanked Putin for supplying vaccinations during the early stages of the pandemic, when Argentina's vaccination campaign relied almost exclusively on Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

"We are very grateful that you were there when no one else wanted to give us vaccine," Fernández said.