LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's directors have rejected a challenge by Russia to the bank's more than two-year freeze on new lending in the country, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.
Russia's EBRD director tabled the challenge at a meeting of decisionmakers, arguing that the 2014 ban was a result of Western shareholder influence on the bank's President and damaged the lender's "international character".
One person who attended the meeting told Reuters: "Russia did not get support for its position."
An EBRD spokesman confirmed that "Russia raised the issue of the international character of the bank at the EBRD directors meeting," but would not comment on the outcome.