Some notably large British firms are among the companies that remain in Russia despite sanctions continue
Mr Hecker explained that “some of the companies that remain are, at least on paper, making fairly robust profits. Among other things, they are popular consumer brands that remain on supermarket shelves, but because they’re operating at reduced capacity, their costs – advertising, marketing – are lower. But their profits, for the foreseeable future, are of little use to head office. They can’t be repatriated from Russia”.
But Raiffeisen remains unaffected by those sanctions, as do other Western banks remaining in Russia. Until now, sanctions authorities have not worked out a way to carve out just their Russian operations – and Raiffeisen has remained in Russia.
Ms Shagina warns that this is coming to an end, however, “as the US is piling pressure on the bank to significantly curtail its activities in Russia. In a country where everything is being mobilised towards the war effort, Raiffeisen is complicit in helping the Kremlin to wage war.”