In today’s #VatnikSoup REBREW, I’ll introduce a bank that is well-known in both Austria and #Russia: #Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and its Russian subsidiary, AO Raiffeisen. It is one of the few foreign banks that still does business in Russia.
1/21
#Raiffeisen’s Russian branch was founded in 1996 and expanded dramatically after the acquisition of #Russia’s Impexbank in 2006. A year later, it was the largest bank trading in foreign capital (seventh in size) in Russia.
2/21
In the early 2000s, #Raiffeisen opened new branches in #Russia, including in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar. After 2018, it focused on digital expansion and by 2021 it had a digital presence in more than 300 cities.
3/21
RBI’s core values sound good: collaboration, pro-activity, learning and responsibility. But both collaboration and responsibility have a double meaning. By doing intensive business with #Russia, RBI enriches itself at the expense of the people murdered by Russia in #Ukraine.
4/21
#Raiffeisen’s management sees no problem in recognising and doing business with the #Luhansk People’s Republic and the #Donetsk People’s Republic, #terrorist organisations rather than states, as is evident from its own message from January 2023.
5/21
According to the Austrian newspaper “Die Presse”, #Russia’s financial system depends on the presence of the Western bank in Russia. Enabling #Putin’s mafia regime to continue making financial transactions with the West makes #Raiffeisen Bank complicit in #genocide.
6/21
Customer satisfaction in #Russia at #Raiffeisen is high: In 2021, the American Forbes named the bank the “best bank in Russia” and in 2018, Euromoney magazine called the bank “the best bank for private banking services for wealthy clients in Central and Eastern #Europe”.
7/21
But some #European banks, including #Raiffeisen and the Italian #Unicredit, saw an opportunity to make easy money and decided to stay. For Raiffeisen, it has indeed turned out to be a profitable deal to stay in #Russia and continue business as usual: around 60% of its profits…
10/21
…totaling EUR 2 billion, came from #Russia. That this profiteering is ongoing is evident from the fact that in the first 6 months of 2024, AO #Raiffeisen still accounts for 50% of RBI’s total profit, according to Raiffeisen itself.
11/21
The bank has over €4,5 billion in outstanding loans through 121 offices and €30 million in assets in #Russia (status: 2023). But #Raiffeisen’s stay in Russia has had its challenges. Russia began granting deferrals on loans to its #troops fighting in #Ukraine last year.
12/21
#Banks must cancel loans if #soldiers are maimed or killed. Between Sep and Dec 2022 alone, the write-offs were worth €800 million. By providing these loans, both #Raiffeisen and Unicredit are funding #Russia’s brutal #war machine.
13/21
International criticism has consistently targeted RBI. In January 2023, the US Treasury Department launched an #investigation into possible violations of Western sanctions. Also, the European Central Bank has pressured #Raiffeisen to leave the lucrative #Russian market.
14/21
On the 30 March 2023, #Raiffeisen called its critics “morally arrogant” and moralising from a “risk-free comfort zone.” It is worth noting that one of Raiffeisen’s staunchest critics is President #Zelenskyy, who hardly operates from a “risk-free comfort zone.”
15/21
In 2024, the #RBI was forced to back down. A deal worth $1,5 billion to buy shares in the construction company #Strabag AG from sanctioned #Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska left the bank under threat of crippling #sanctions from the #US. The deal got called off.
16/21
The European Central Bank has also pressured #RBI to scale back its activities in #Russia, reflecting a broader Western regulatory push to further isolate Russia financially. But in Nov 2024, the #bank announced that it would even now not leave #Russia.
17/21
It’s still lucrative to do business with #Putin. RBI’s share price has risen sharply after #Trump’s election, in the hope that Russian #sanctions will be eased. Over 60% of #Raiffeisen is owned by Raiffeisen’s 1,7 million #Austrian members & nearly 40% by free floating shares.
18/21
In Mar 2025, #OCCRP & Der Standard reported that between Jan-Feb of 2022, #RBI sent over €9 billion in cash to #Moscow, providing a massive liquidity boost to the #Russian economy. While Russian #tanks were rolling towards #Kyiv, at least ten cash shipments reached Moscow.
19/21
In Apr 2025, Financial Times reported that #RBI has halted the sale of their #Russia unit due to #Trump administration’s new friendship with the #Kremlin. An RBI spokesperson later commented that “the sale process is continuing,” denying the rumours.
20/21
In conclusion: it seems that #Raiffeisen’s shareholders and members consider profit more important than the lives of #Ukrainians. But they’re also under pressure - in Mar 2025, Austrian activists protested against #RBI, demanding they stop doing business with #Russia.
21/21
The 2nd edition of “#VatnikSoup — The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” is officially out!
You can order your copy here: https://www.kleart.eu/webshop/p/vatnik-soup
Do your friends believe Ukraine is full of neo-Nazis and secret biolabs? Do you feel overwhelmed by propaganda and lies every time you go online? Does your mom think Tucker Carlson sounds reasonable? If so, this book is for you! Vatnik Soup: The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation is based on
From a different perspective, the options are as follows:
1) Stay in Shitskoye, Russia, and risk having your arm(s) broken. Pay the debt, or more of your body might break.
2) Join the SMO in Ukraine. Pay your commander 60% of your pay to survive. Get home and realize that you don't have enough money to pay off the debt. Have your arm(s) broken.
3) Join the SMO in Ukraine. Eat a Ukrainian FPV drone. You'll get a permanent dirt nap and you're debt-free.
In 2024, the #RBI was forced to back down. A deal worth $1,5 billion to buy shares in the construction company #Strabag AG from sanctioned #Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska left the bank under threat of crippling #sanctions from the #US. The deal got called off.
16/21
The European Central Bank has also pressured #RBI to scale back its activities in #Russia, reflecting a broader Western regulatory push to further isolate Russia financially. But in Nov 2024, the #bank announced that it would even now not leave #Russia.
17/21
It’s still lucrative to do business with #Putin. RBI’s share price has risen sharply after #Trump’s election, in the hope that Russian #sanctions will be eased. Over 60% of #Raiffeisen is owned by Raiffeisen’s 1,7 million #Austrian members & nearly 40% by free floating shares.
18/21
In Mar 2025, #OCCRP & Der Standard reported that between Jan-Feb of 2022, #RBI sent over €9 billion in cash to #Moscow, providing a massive liquidity boost to the #Russian economy. While Russian #tanks were rolling towards #Kyiv, at least ten cash shipments reached Moscow.
19/21
In Apr 2025, Financial Times reported that #RBI has halted the sale of their #Russia unit due to #Trump administration’s new friendship with the #Kremlin. An RBI spokesperson later commented that “the sale process is continuing,” denying the rumours.
20/21
In conclusion: it seems that #Raiffeisen’s shareholders and members consider profit more important than the lives of #Ukrainians. But they’re also under pressure - in Mar 2025, Austrian activists protested against #RBI, demanding they stop doing business with #Russia.
21/21
The 2nd edition of “#VatnikSoup — The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” is officially out!
You can order your copy here: https://www.kleart.eu/webshop/p/vatnik-soup
Do your friends believe Ukraine is full of neo-Nazis and secret biolabs? Do you feel overwhelmed by propaganda and lies every time you go online? Does your mom think Tucker Carlson sounds reasonable? If so, this book is for you! Vatnik Soup: The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation is based on
Pekka Kallioniemi
millennial falcon
Viking Chieftain