MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Russian central bank expects its key interest rate to be in the range of 6.0-7.0% on average in 2022 before moving into the 5.0-6.0% range in 2023, the bank said on Thursday. In a report on its monetary policy outlook, the central bank said annual inflation, its main area of responsibility, will slow to 4.0-4.5% in 2021 and to the 4% target in 2023. As of late August, annual inflation in Russia hit a five-year high of 6.79%, hovering above the key rate which is now at 6.5%. (Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh, Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Katya Golubkova and Elena Fabrichnaya; Editing by Edmund Blair) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.