OTP Bank Ukraine

Loans to mobilized occupiers and blackmail with EU sanctions

In May 2023, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) included the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of international war sponsors: the bank’s Russian subsidiary provided loan holidays to Russians drafted by mobilization or contract to participate in the war against Ukraine, as well as to their families, effectively recognizing the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" in its documents. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó publicly stated at the EU ministers' meeting in Stockholm that Hungary "will not even enter negotiations on the 11th package of sanctions" against Russia while OTP remains on the Ukrainian list of war sponsors—effectively using the bank as a geopolitical lever against Ukraine. In October 2023, the NACP removed OTP Bank from the war sponsors list after Hungary blocked new tranches from the European Peace Facility to Ukraine as a direct response to the sanctions listing.

The parent group remains in Russia, while the "subsidiary" in Ukraine—and a subsidiary bank in Moscow

As of 2026, OTP Bank Plc (Hungary), as the sole shareholder of OTP Bank in Ukraine, simultaneously controls JSC "OTP Bank" in Moscow, which continues its operational activities in the Russian Federation, pays taxes to the Russian budget, and services the banking system of the aggressor country. The National Bank of Ukraine has repeatedly called on OTP Bank to withdraw from the Russian market, but the bank has not fulfilled its obligations.