Austria blocking EU sanctions on Belarus banks

Even as banks from other EU states began to voluntarily pull out of the Belarusian market last year, Austrian ones increased their share, sources said.

Austrian banks are now responsible for some 90 percent of interbank loans in Belarus, two EU sources told this website.

Austria's Raiffeisen Bank, for instance, has a Belarusian subsidiary, called Priorbank, which loans money directly to regime-owned enterprises.

When asked if it was worried about its reputation, a Raiffeisen spokeswoman told EUobserver: "We are very concerned about the developments in the country [Belarus] and hope for a peaceful solution".

"If the EU takes further measures, we hope that they are targeted and don't harm private companies and worsen the economic situation of the civilian population," she added.

When asked if Raiffeisen had been in contact with the Austrian government on Belarus sanctions, she also said: "Like any other international company of our size, we regularly communicate with the government".

And the bank has, in the past, been rather friendly with Austria's ruling ÖVP party, amid an ongoing investigation by Austrian prosecutors into allegations of improper party funding.

It is equally friendly with Lukashenko, given that the head of Belarus' top oil firm, Belarusneft CEO Alexander Lyakov, sits on Priorbank's board, in just one of several personal links to the regime.