(Reuters) – Raiffeisen’s appeal against a 2 billion euro ($2.18 billion) order to pay damages to Russian firm Rasperia over a collapsed business deal will be heard by a Russian court next month, court filings show.
The January damages ruling underscored the perils of doing business in Russia for Raiffeisen Bank International, the largest Western bank still operating there.
The Kremlin warned that unfriendly actions against Russia must have consequences.
The hearing is scheduled for April 24 at an arbitration appeals court in St Petersburg. RBI confirmed the court date.
The case was centred on a claim by investment company Rasperia against builder Strabag, its Austrian shareholders and the Russian arm of Raiffeisen.
Raiffeisen has around 6 billion euros in Russia, earned from international payments and on billions of euros in Russian deposits, a person with knowledge of the matter has told Reuters.
Its dispute with Rasperia followed the failure of a deal that Raiffeisen hoped would allow it to unlock some of those frozen billions.
Since the January ruling, Raiffeisen CEO Johann Strobl has said the bank is “very, very confident” it will win an Austrian case to claim Rasperia’s roughly 1.2 billion euros ($1.24 billion) in assets in Austria if the Russian damages ruling is confirmed.
RBI said its Russian unit had made a provision of 840 million euros related to the Russian court ruling. That sum reflects the amount of Russian damages minus what it could recover in Austria, Strobl said in February. ($1 = 0.9190 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Jason Neely)
