Austria is seeking to have Raiffeisen Bank International, the biggest Western bank in Russia, struck off a Ukrainian blacklist in return for signing off fresh European Union sanctions on Russia, said two people familiar with the situation.

Austria and the bank wants it to be taken off a Ukrainian list dubbed “international sponsors of war” – which sets out to shame companies doing business in Russia and supporting the war effort by, for instance, paying taxes.

The latest push underscores Austria’s deep economic bond with Russia, the bank’s determination to keep its profitable business there, as well as a fading wider Western drive to isolate Moscow.

Earlier in October, Austria’s foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, openly criticised that blacklist as arbitrary at a meeting of European ministers in Kyiv, said one person briefed on those discussions.