Rasperia, a Russian vehicle formerly linked to sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, sued Strabag and its Austrian shareholders in Russia after its 24.1 percent Strabag stake was frozen under EU sanctions. Russian courts ordered payment of about €2.04B and allowed enforcement against Raiffeisen’s Russian subsidiary, which has since been stripped of assets. RBI is now suing Rasperia in Vienna for about €3.15B to recover its loss from the frozen Strabag shares held in Austria.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT · JUL 28, 2026
On 23 July 2026, a Russian court issued an anti-suit injunction against Strabag, its core shareholders and Raiffeisen, with a carve-out letting RBI sue Rasperia in Austria for up to €2.85B. RBI filed its €3.15B claim in Vienna on 28 July 2026, and Rasperia has since missed a court deadline to respond, making a default judgment likely.
BACKGROUND
Rasperia Trading Limited is a Cyprus-registered vehicle that for years was treated as the entity through which sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska held a roughly 24 percent stake in the Austrian construction group STRABAG SE. When the EU imposed sanctions on Deripaska-linked structures in spring 2022, Rasperia’s rights attached to the STRABAG shares, including dividends and voting rights, were frozen. Austria’s UBO registry had also listed Deripaska as the stake’s ultimate beneficial owner, a finding STRABAG contested. Rasperia was itself later added to the EU sanctions list over what regulators called a scheme to disguise Deripaska’s continued control.
Rasperia responded by suing STRABAG, its core Austrian shareholders, and Raiffeisen Bank International’s Russian subsidiary AO Raiffeisenbank in Russian courts, arguing the freeze had made its shareholding worthless. The Arbitrazh Court of the Kaliningrad Region, a forum increasingly used by sanctioned Russian claimants because Western defendants often cannot appear to contest jurisdiction, awarded Rasperia roughly €2B in January 2025, a judgment a Russian appellate court affirmed later that year. Because STRABAG and its shareholders have no seizable assets in Russia, Rasperia proceeded to enforce the award against AO Raiffeisenbank, which does operate in Russia and has since had assets stripped to satisfy the judgment. A second, related Russian judgment in late 2025 added further exposure, prompting Raiffeisen to book hundreds of millions of euros in additional provisions.
Having absorbed the loss through its Russian subsidiary, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and AO Raiffeisenbank turned to Austria to recover the money from Rasperia’s remaining frozen assets there, chiefly the STRABAG stake itself. In July 2026, a Russian court issued a sweeping anti-suit injunction barring STRABAG, its core shareholders, and the Raiffeisen entities from pursuing claims against Rasperia outside Russia, but carved out an exception letting RBI and AO Raiffeisenbank sue Rasperia in Austria for up to about €2.85B. RBI used that opening to file a roughly €3.15B damages claim against Rasperia at the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters in late July 2026, seeking to attach Rasperia’s frozen Austrian assets.
The Vienna case is now moving toward a possible default judgment after Rasperia failed to respond within its deadline, since Rasperia has shown no sign of participating in Austrian proceedings against it. Civil society groups have criticized the maneuver as an attempt by a Western bank to use frozen sanctioned assets to offset losses generated by a Russian court judgment, raising broader questions about whether EU sanctions architecture can be used this way. A separate Amsterdam arbitration brought by STRABAG’s core shareholders against Rasperia was withdrawn in September 2025 as the parties shifted their fight to the Austrian and Russian court tracks.
TIMELINE
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SEP 2026PROCEDURALRasperia misses response deadline in Vienna, default judgment likelyRasperia fails to respond within its court-set deadline in the Vienna proceedings, moving RBI closer to a default judgment on its €3.15B claim.
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JUL 28, 2026FILINGRBI files €3.15B claim against Rasperia in ViennaRBI and AO Raiffeisenbank file their damages claim against Rasperia at the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters, seeking to reach Rasperia’s frozen Austrian assets including its STRABAG stake.
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JUL 23, 2026OTHERRussian court issues anti-suit injunction with carve-out for RBI to sue Rasperia in AustriaA Russian court bars STRABAG, its core shareholders, RBI and AO Raiffeisenbank from pursuing Rasperia-related claims outside Russia, but permits RBI and AO Raiffeisenbank to sue Rasperia in Austria for up to about €2.85B. RBI announces it will file a roughly €3.15B claim in Vienna.
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MAR 12, 2026ENFORCEMENTRaiffeisen Russia ordered to pay over €300M to Strabag shareholderFurther enforcement proceedings confirm AO Raiffeisenbank must pay more than €300M tied to the Rasperia litigation.
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DEC 18, 2025JUDGMENTSecond Russian judgment adds hundreds of millions in exposureA further Russian court decision in a second Rasperia-related lawsuit leads RBI’s Russian subsidiary AO Raiffeisenbank to book about €339M in additional provisions for the fourth quarter of 2025.
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SEP 30, 2025PROCEDURALSTRABAG’s core shareholders withdraw Amsterdam arbitration claim against RasperiaSTRABAG’s core shareholders withdraw a parallel arbitration claim they had brought against Rasperia in Amsterdam, shifting the dispute back to Russian and Austrian courts.
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JUN 1, 2025FILINGRasperia seeks injunction against STRABAG shareholders and RBI in KaliningradRasperia applies to the Kaliningrad Commercial Court for an injunction against STRABAG’s core shareholders and Raiffeisen Bank International, laying groundwork for the later anti-suit injunction.
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APR 24, 2025APPEALRussian appellate court affirms the €2B awardA Russian court of appeal confirms the Kaliningrad court’s judgment against Raiffeisen’s Russian subsidiary.
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JAN 20, 2025JUDGMENTKaliningrad court awards Rasperia about €2BThe Kaliningrad Arbitrazh Court rules for Rasperia, awarding roughly €2B (about $2.1B) in damages against AO Raiffeisenbank, STRABAG SE, Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien and other defendants.
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SEP 2024FILINGRasperia sues STRABAG in Russia over frozen, ‘worthless’ sharesRasperia files suit in the Arbitrazh Court of the Kaliningrad Region against STRABAG SE, its core shareholders and Raiffeisen entities, arguing the EU sanctions freeze rendered its STRABAG stake worthless.
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JUN 22, 2023JUDGMENTKlagenfurt court dismisses Rasperia’s annulment actionThe Klagenfurt Regional Court dismisses an action for annulment filed by Rasperia against STRABAG in Austria.
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DEC 2022OTHERAustrian UBO registry names Deripaska as STRABAG’s beneficial ownerAustria’s ultimate beneficial ownership registry names Oleg Deripaska as STRABAG SE’s ultimate beneficial owner, a finding STRABAG says it will challenge.
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MAR 2022OTHEREU sanctions freeze Rasperia’s rights in STRABAG sharesEU sanctions targeting Oleg Deripaska-linked structures freeze the voting and dividend rights attached to Rasperia’s roughly 24 percent stake in STRABAG SE.