WASHINGTON. Dec 11: New figures from the International Monetary Fund show that Russia is still repaying old IMF loans, despite persistent delays in winning money from Its latest credit, reports Reuters.

The IMF figures, published on the fund's website on Thursday. show that Russia repaid a net $3.14 billion to the IMF in the last 12 months, including $308 million in November.

Russia's debts to the IMF totalled $15.92 billion on Nov 30. down from a July 1998 peak of $19.44 billion.

Troubled Russia is the IMF's largest single borrower. But it has a poor track record of meeting structural and economic conditions agreed in successive loan agreements with the fund and It has infuriated major IMF member states with a violent bombing campaign in breakaway Chechnya.

Some IMF member countries want the fund to halt the loans until the Russian guns are silent. Russia says its actions are targeted against terrorists in the region. Which is located on Russia's volatile southern rim.

But the latest loan IMF loan to Russia, a $4.5 billion credit approved in July, has been frozen since before the bombing stared and the fund insists it cannot pay until Russia meets a string of economic promises centering on driving barter out of the economy and improving banl-'uptcy laws.

The IMF. stressing that it had economic reasons to delay payments from the loan, this week took the unusual step of listing exactly what Russia needed to do to win the cash.