Some of the largest Western banks operating in Russia paid hundreds of millions in taxes to the Kremlin last year “despite promises to minimize their Russian exposure after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the British business newspaper Financial Times reports. Some experts say these financial institutions indirectly fund the war in Ukraine.
FT report states that in 2023, seven of the Western banks with the biggest assets in Russia — Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), UniCredit, ING, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and OTP reported a combined profit of more than €3 billion, triple the amount from 2021.
These Western banks have assets in Russian banks which have generated income and for this, they have had to pay taxes to the Kremlin, according to FT.
They collectively paid approximately €800 million to Russia in taxes last year, “a fourfold increase on prewar levels,” FT states.
While the international community has been blocking Russian assets abroad, it seems that foreign money is still finding its way to indirectly fund the war in Ukraine.
A Russian senior bank manager was quoted as saying by the daily: “It is not only in RBI’s interest to stay in Russia. The [Russian central bank] will do everything it can to not let them go because there are few non-sanctioned banks through which Russia can receive and send Swift payments.”
These Western banks have assets in Russian banks which have generated income and for this, they have had to pay taxes to the Kremlin, according to FT.
They collectively paid approximately €800 million to Russia in taxes last year, “a fourfold increase on prewar levels,” FT states.
While the international community has been blocking Russian assets abroad, it seems that foreign money is still finding its way to indirectly fund the war in Ukraine.
A Russian senior bank manager was quoted as saying by the daily: “It is not only in RBI’s interest to stay in Russia. The [Russian central bank] will do everything it can to not let them go because there are few non-sanctioned banks through which Russia can receive and send Swift payments.”
Source: FT, TVP World
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