Russian Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina misses Putin’s interest rate meeting — and hasn’t been seen in public for a week

Vladimir Putin met with senior ministers to discuss economic issues, including declining inflation and a possible cut in the key interest rate. Neither Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina nor any of her deputies attended, the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo reported.

Nabiullina had attended all previous economic meetings. The only prior exception was a May 5 session, when Central Bank Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin filled in for her.

Nabiullina has not appeared in public for about a week. On June 4, she was scheduled to speak at one of the main sessions of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, but her name was removed from the list of speakers. She also missed the National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) conference on June 9. The Central Bank’s press office said Nabiullina was on sick leave.

Nabiullina’s term as governor expires in June 2027. This is her third and final term. The Bell reported that three candidates have emerged as possible replacements: Maxim Oreshkin, deputy head of the presidential administration; Pyotr Fradkov, head of the state-owned Promsvyazbank; and Andrei Kostin, head of the state bank VTB. Whoever is chosen, the decision is Putin’s alone, the outlet noted.