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Raiffeisen comes under tremendous pressure due to work in Russia — envoy to Austria

Dmitry Lyubinsky noted that other western financial institutions carrying on the work in Russia were "happily avoiding that massive foreign pressure"

VIENNA, December 28. /TASS/. The Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) comes under tremendous pressure due to continuing work in Russia, though some western banks have not left the country either, Russian Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky told TASS.

"I would like to note that an unprecedented campaign on mudslinging RBI for continuing presence in Russia has been mounted amid other western financial institutions, the US Citibank or Italy’s UniCredit in particular, carrying on the work in Russia happily avoiding that massive foreign pressure," he said.

The Austrian authorities are very passionate about RBI, the republic’s largest banking group, the diplomat added. "The stability of the whole banking system of the country depends on reliability of its positions, not to mention solid revenues that the bank has been collecting in our country for many years. In 2022, according to figures published here, the Russian subsidiary accounted for around 60% of total profit worth 3.6 bln euro. Obviously, the consequences of the Austrian bank’s withdrawal from the Russian market and the loss of serious dividends would not have been painless for Austrian taxpayers," Lyubinsky emphasized.

RBI’s management has repeatedly announced plans to sell its Russian business or form it out of the group without mentioning specific time limits. The process is related to many bureaucratic procedures and issuance of permits by regulators.

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