Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, the first Western bank in Russia, sees selling 60 percent of its assets in the country as the most likely scenario in its attempt to withdraw from the market.

This is according to the institution's CEO.

Raiffeisen has been under pressure from authorities on both sides of the Atlantic to reduce its large presence in Russia since the start of the war with Ukraine, as part of an effort to isolate Russia by tightening sanctions on banks and preventing access to Western assets.

The Vienna-based bank has been repeating for more than two years that it will seek to sell or spin off its vast Russian division, but it faces numerous obstacles, not the least of which is the likelihood that, like other Western firms that have left the country, it will be forced to divest a significant portion of its assets.

(Translated by Chiara Scarciglia, editing Sara Rossi)