Mutual concessions: Ukraine temporarily removed Raiffeisen from the blacklist, and Austria withdrew its objections to the 12th package of EU sanctions

Demanding that Kyiv remove Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International from its list of “international war sponsors,” Austria blocked approval of the twelfth package of sanctions EU in relation to the Russian Federation.

After Ukraine temporarily removed Raiffeisen from the list, Austria withdrew its objections, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed EU diplomat. In the list on the website of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine, the bank’s status is indeed “suspended” writes Air Force, for the period of consultations with the European Commission.

This list of war sponsors has virtually no legal significance. Rather, it is intended to draw negative attention to companies that continue to do business in Russia. Raiffeisen has expressed its readiness to separate from its Russian business, but has not yet done so.

The story of adding the Austrian Raiffeisenbank to the Ukrainian list of “war sponsors” also has a practical aspect, writes Politico. Amid claims from the Ukrainian authorities that Raiffeisen continues to work in the Russian Federation, its Ukrainian “daughter” was removed from the “5-7-9” business lending program (loans for businesses at a low interest rate), which brings good income to banks. And they still haven’t restored it in this program:

“Unfortunately, Raiffeisenbank did not restore work under the state credit program of 5-7-9%. As soon as we return to it, there will be an official statement from management. We suspended work at 5-7-9% about a year ago.”

On the website of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund (which runs the 5-7-9% program), Raiffeisenbank is also not in the list of partner banks.

Russian authorities in recent months have consistently made it difficult for foreign companies seeking to curtail their activities in the country to leave Russia, writes BBC. This often comes with painful financial losses.

At the summit, the European Council welcomed the adoption of the 12th package of sanctions, which the EU intends to impose against the Kremlin in view of Russia’s ongoing aggressive war against Ukraine. Among the restrictive measures, it is planned to introduce a gradual ban on the import of diamonds from the Russian Federation from January 1, as well as a requirement for European companies to provide evidence that they adhere to the “price ceiling” for oil from the Russian Federation introduced by Western countries.

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