A Russian court froze the shares of Raiffeisenbank’s Russian subsidiary, further stalling the sale of the largest Western bank still operating in the country, the lender’s Austrian parent company said Thursday.

“A Russian court has today issued a preliminary injunction, by which shares of AO Raiffeisenbank are subject to a transfer ban with

Voting in Russia’s three-day local and regional elections began on Friday, with Kremlin-backed candidates expected to dominate a political landscape all but devoid of meaningful competition.

Voters will elect governors in 21 regions, legislative assembly members in 13 regions, including two in annexed Crimea, and scores of local officials on Sept.

France’s criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov has raised fears among Russian users about their digital privacy and in some cases deepened distrust toward Western authorities.

The Russian-French billionaire was detained at a Paris airport last month on charges of enabling criminal activity on Telegram. He was later released pending an