The Russian branch of the Austrian company Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI / Райффайзен Банк) continue to offer financial assistance to Putin’s regime and advantageous loans to Putin’s enforcers on the occupied territories in Ukraine.
On Twitter, the bank defended itself that it is merely following the orders laws in force in the country in which it is located (archive link in case it gets deleted).
The page about the reduced-rate loans offered to the armed forces (see photo) is pretty explicit and it says that among the conditions to getting a loan is “the borrower is doing military service in the Russian Armed Forces under a contract or is in military service for the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation […], subject to its participation in a special military operation on the territories of Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic“.
The law the bank is referring to is Law №377/2022 approved in October 2022 that provides for deference of payments, reduced rates for loans and extended grace periods for those engaged in Russia’s war of aggression and for their families.
It’s not the first time
The Austrian bank is accustomed to bowing to any demands by the Putin regime. In 2017, Raiffeisen was the only Western bank to help the Russian government provide passports and identity documents to those requesting them in the separatist regions.
Half of the profit made by the Raiffeisen group was made in Russia last year and Raiffeisen also assisted the Russian government in late 2022 with the conscription efforts.
In 2021, Raiffeisen Bank assisted the Belarussian government as well in its effort to violently crackdown on those who dissented to Lukashenka’s regime.
