The big ones Western banks who decided to stay in Russia after the outbreak of the conflict with Ukraine they paid the Kremlin more than 800 million euros Of taxes In the 2023. A figure equal to 4 times the previous levels at the outbreak of conflict.
800 million from Western banks in Russia
The promise of the credit institutions to reduce exposure to Russia to a minimum after 24 February 2022, the day on which the tanks with the Z moved, was therefore betrayed.
The revelation comes from an investigation by Financial Times. The business daily revealed that the 7 main European banks by activity in Russia recorded, in total, a profit of over 3 billion euros in 2023. This is Raiffeisen Bank International, Eng, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Otp, Unicredit And Intesa Sanpaolo.
Profits were partly generated by funds that banks cannot withdraw from the country. But not only that: profits also came from higher interest rates and due to the fact that, following Western sanctions against Russian banks, important rivals have lost access to international payment systems. Having no alternatives, Russian customers were forced to turn to Western banks to carry out transactions.
If in 2021 the credit institutions had paid the Russian treasury a total of 200 million euros, with the increase in profitability the taxes rose to 800 million. The Americans are also added to the 7 big ones mentioned above Citigroup And JPMorganamong others.
The fees paid by Western banks are equivalent to 0.4% of the revenue of the Russian non-energy budget of 2024. After the events of February 2022, numerous Western companies decided to leave Russia or suspend activities. For the City newspaper, the multiplication of taxes paid by Western banks represents one of the examples of how foreign companies actually help Russia to maintain a certain financial stability despite the harsh Western sanctions.
The Italians
In the ranking of those who paid the most, the Italian Unicredit gains second place among European banks with 154 million euros paid to the Moscow tax authorities in 2023 against 658 million euros in profits. Unicredit had paid 44 million euros in taxes in 2021 on 209 million in profits.
And the other Italian bank on the list, Intesa Sanpaolo, is one step away from the podium with 27 million euros in taxes paid to Russia in 2023 on 138 million euros in profits. In 2021, before the Russia-Ukraine war, Intesa Sanpaolo had paid 2 million euros in taxes on 7 million in profits.
The Ariston case
Meanwhile, there is a clash between Italy and Russia over the Ariston case: Putin has given orders to nationalize the Ariston factory in Vsevolozhsk, 20 kilometers east of St. Petersburg. Specifically, the Kremlin nationalized Ariston Thermo Rus, a company belonging to the Ariston Group, entrusting it to a company of the Gazprom group and arousing protests from the Italian government. The same fate befell the Russian branch of the German company Bosch.
