Turkey plans to shift its payments for Russian natural gas to Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, bypassing Gazprombank due to U.S. sanctions. This arrangement could funnel over €7 billion annually to Russia, reinforcing its energy-driven budget and maintaining gas flows through the TurkStream pipeline, which also supplies parts of Europe. Despite the EU’s recent pledge to eliminate Russian energy imports by 2027, following the so-called "roadmap towards ending Russian energy imports", this deal may undercut those efforts by preserving a key revenue stream for Moscow through the EU countries.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited RBI to respond. The company replied. Its response can be found below.