Nabiullina first appeared in public after her sick leave

On June 19, Elvira Nabiullina, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, took part in a press conference following a meeting of the Board of Directors on monetary policy, which was her first public appearance after her sick leave. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

First statements

Nabiullina made a number of statements during her speech, some of them related to the key interest rate, which was lowered to 14.25% on the same day. So, according to her, the current risk picture may limit the space for further reduction of this indicator. The current situation, as explained by the chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, required her organization to take a more restrained step.

She also pointed to a slow decrease in tension in the employment market. Describing the situation of this issue in the regions, Nabiullina said that the reduction of staff shortages there had stopped altogether. Now we can see a significant variation in the dynamics of wages depending on the type of activity, which provokes heterogeneity in the country's economy.

What events did Nabiullina miss?

The chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has stopped appearing in public since the beginning of June. So, she did not attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2026) and the conference of the National Association of Stock Market Participants (NAUFOR).

On June 4, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation explained the absence of its head at the SPIEF with her illness. According to sources in the British newspaper Financial Times (FT), Nabiullina could have suffered an acute respiratory infection.

The Kremlin's reaction to what is happening

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wished Nabiullina a speedy recovery during his briefing on June 11. Responding to a question from one of the journalists, he stressed that such topics should not "be a reason for some conspiracy theories."

Peskov said that the Kremlin expressed hopes that everything would go "absolutely well" and recalled that there is nothing special about the fact that people sometimes get sick.

Nabiullina on the situation: "she caught a cold and lost her voice"

Nabiullina confirmed on June 19 that she had caught a cold and lost her voice for a while.

"I can only confirm that I did have a cold, and I lost my voice for a while," she said.

The Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation thanked all those who were worried about her, and then continued her speech, moving on to other relevant topics related to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.