WASHINGTON -- Russia should be ready to start issuing a multi-tranche $800 million loan to Serbia within the next few months, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said at the weekend.

"We should end negotiations within the next few months and we'll spread it over a couple of years, maybe one year," Kudrin told journalists on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

He said the timing of the tranches would depend on Serbia's needs and progress in projects for which the money will be used. The loan is to be spent on a range of investment projects including transport, agriculture and high technology.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during a visit to Belgrade in March that Moscow was considering the loan package, which follows $200 million lent during the global economic crisis