VIENNA, March 10. /TASS/. The US Department of the Treasury threatened Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) with sanctions for operating in Russia, the EUobserver news portal said.

According to the news portal, the Treasury warned RBI that it risks being cut off the US financial system if it continues operations in Russia. US Treasury official Anna Morris discussed this topic with the Austrian government and RBI executives, the EUobserver informed.

"As a matter of principle, we do not comment publicly on discussions with representatives of authorities," Raiffeisen Bank told the news portal.

RBI is operating in Russia since 1996. Raiffeisenbank, the Russian subsidiary of RBI, ranks tenth in terms of the asset size among Russian credit institutions.