Raiffeisen Shares Plunge: Short Seller Calls It a "Sanctions-Circumvention Channel" Against Russia

Shares of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank plummeted during trading on September 17 after U.S. activist short-seller Grizzly Research announced it had opened a short position against the bank, calling it “a key channel for circumventing sanctions in Russia’s wartime economy.”

Raiffeisen has denied the allegations. The Austrian bank is one of the few Western financial institutions that continued to operate in Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Bloomberg notes.

Raiffeisen Bank shares fell 8.2%, 6.5%, and 6%, respectively, pulling back from the 18-year high reached earlier this month on the Vienna Stock Exchange, Bloomberg reported. Investors reacted to a report by the American short-seller Grizzly Research, which claimed that Raiffeisen Bank— “the owner of the largest Western bank still operating in Russia,” is linked to $1.19 billion in trade transactions involving goods subject to EU, U.S., and U.K. sanctions against Russia. The Austrian bank, according to Grizzly Research, “has become a key channel for circumventing sanctions amid Russia’s war economy.” Moreover, Raiffeisen “simultaneously assures investors, regulators, and the public that it is winding down its business there [in Russia],” the short-seller noted.

According to the study, his conclusions are based on Russian customs data covering nearly four years—from 2022 to early 2025. However, they do not confirm any payments, financing, or violations of sanctions, Bloomberg notes. The report refers to “imports and exports to the EU, the U.S., the U.K., or Switzerland of goods subject to [Western] restrictions in effect at the time.” Among them were $106.75 million worth of components “used in the most powerful Russian weapons systems.” These include optical sights and parts used in battle tanks or in the production of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.

“We are confident in the reliability of our compliance systems, which have been repeatedly tested both before and after the start of the full-scale invasion. Upon our initial review of the [Grizzly Research report], we also identified a number of factually incorrect and misleading statements,” said Rupert Rife, a spokesperson for the bank, commenting on the short seller’s findings.

This article is being updated

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor