Raiffeisen’s Bet On Russia Leads To U.S. Threats

For more than four months, US envoys delivered increasingly shrill warnings to Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International to scrap a deal they said had links to one of Russia's most powerful oligarchs.

Raiffeisen and Austria, are on the front line of a global push by the United States to isolate Russia by reinforcing sanctions on banking and choking off access to Western goods more than two years after it invaded Ukraine. I Photo: salech hcelas Wikimedia Commons

In May, Washington's patience snapped, John O’Donnell reported for Reuters.

In a written ultimatum that landed on May 8 at the bank, its supervisor the European Central Bank (ECB), and Austria's government, Washington threatened to curb Raiffeisen's access to the dollar, according to one person who has seen the letter, a potential death sentence for the biggest Western lender in Russia.

Within hours, Raiffeisen had called off the deal first announced in December, but the damage was done: By pushing Washington to the brink, the seeds of mistrust had been sown, Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, Francesco Canepa, Karen Freifield, and Stefania Spezzati also reported for Reuters.

Now, nearly two months on, pressure on the bank to loosen its ties with Russia is mounting, from both Washington and the ECB, three people with knowledge of the process said.

Raiffeisen and Austria, are on the front line of a global push by the United States to isolate Russia by reinforcing sanctions on banking and choking off access to Western goods more than two years after it invaded Ukraine.

Reuters has spoken to more than a dozen people, including senior officials involved in discussions with the US, Austria, and European regulators.

The interviews show it remains under international pressure to exit Russia - despite ending its deal to buy a stake in Austrian construction firm Strabag, which the US Treasury said in May belonged to sanctioned Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska.