Raiffeisen Russia court case to continue on Jan. 20

(Reuters) – A Russian court case involving a compensation claim against Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will continue in the second half of January, judicial authorities and the lender said on Wednesday.

A hearing was held on Dec. 25 – which is not Christmas Day under the calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church – but no verdict was reached and the case will continue on Jan. 20, an RBI spokesperson said.

A court official confirmed the date to Reuters by phone.

RBI, one of the biggest Western banks in Russia, has been under pressure from authorities in the United States and Europe to spin off its Russian business following the Ukraine war, part of an effort to isolate Russia with sanctions.

But the Russian court’s decision to freeze RBI’s local business rules out a sale and makes it all but impossible for the bank to unlock its billions in Russia.

RBI tried earlier this year to unlock some of its frozen assets by buying a roughly $1.6 billion stake in Austrian builder Strabag linked to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

The U.S. pressured RBI to drop the deal and the collapse of that sale also led to the current Russian legal action.

The court case centres on a claim by Russian investment company Rasperia against Strabag, its Austrian shareholders and RBI’s Russian arm. Rasperia wants $2 billion in compensation.

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich in Vienna and Gleb Bryanski in Moscow; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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