EU’s 21st Russia sanctions package may include measures against Raiffeisen Bank International

The EU’s next Russia sanctions package could include measures against Austrian lender Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Bloomberg reported, but the bloc still has not agreed on the package as a whole. For high-risk payments people, the interesting part is not just the bank name: the draft still has live disputes around Russian LNG, Russian oil price cap policy, and a separate sanctions list that keeps expanding for banks, crypto operators, and tankers.

1. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said measures against Raiffeisen Bank International AG could be part of the EU’s 21st Russia sanctions package. The report did not specify what restrictions the bloc might impose on RBI.
2. The package has not been agreed yet. According to the same sources, the main sticking points are restrictions on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and measures against Raiffeisen. A third unresolved element is the proposed freeze of the Russian oil price cap at $44.10 per barrel.
3. Without that freeze, the Russian oil price cap would probably rise significantly with global prices, which would reduce the effectiveness of the mechanism, Bloomberg’s sources said. The deadline mentioned by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was 15 July, and she said the 21st package was “quite close” to completion but could not guarantee a decision on the oil cap by then.
4. Bloomberg also said EU foreign ministers had agreed on 250 additional listings covering banks, crypto operators, and tankers that are said to help Russia bypass sanctions. That part of the regime is updated continuously outside the formal sanctions packages, which is the kind of detail compliance teams tend to notice immediately.
5. Reuters-sphere politics around the package are still doing the usual work. Euroactiv reported last week that Greece wants to keep sending Russian LNG to non-EU countries in exchange for backing the oil price cap freeze. The outlet also said France, Italy, and Greece pushed back against a blanket Schengen visa ban for all Russian military personnel involved in the war in Ukraine, so the measure was narrowed to short-term visas for those who directly took part in combat.

For RBI, this is not an abstract headline. The bank has spent months trying to sell its Russian business, and any EU action that tightens the frame around that operation matters for counterparties, payment routes, and sanctions screening decisions across the region.