Russia supports Czech to head IMF, but Czechs don't

Russia nominated former Czech premier and central bank chief Josef Tosovsky yesterday to run the International Monetary Fund, but the Czech government immediately disowned his candidacy.

The announcement confirms news that broke on Tuesday and brings a second contender into the race to head the global lender after the European Union proposed France's former finance minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

But the demarche appeared to backfire as the Czech Republic repudiated Tosovsky's candidacy and instead endorsed Strauss-Kahn.