Raiffeisenbank from abroad: why the website may not open and what to do

Endless loading and a connection error when you try to open Raiffeisenbank’s website from abroad don’t necessarily mean the bank has shut out customers who left Russia. On the evening of October 10, our server abroad never managed to connect to the bank’s home page, even though measurement probes on other foreign networks received it without errors. We look at what this depends on, what the bank’s rules say about customers abroad, where to get the app, and when a Russian address might help.

Why Raiffeisenbank’s website may not open abroad

First, what this is not. The “Your connection is not private” warning triggered by a certificate issued by Mintsifry, Russia’s digital ministry, which we covered using the example of Alfa-Bank’s website from abroad, has nothing to do with Raiffeisenbank. On October 10, both the raiffeisen.ru home page and the online.raiffeisen.ru online banking site served a GlobalSign certificate, and standard certificate validation passed in all of our measurements where a connection was established at all.

Nor does it look as if the bank has closed its website to foreign addresses altogether. That same evening, Globalping probes in five countries received the home page without errors, including home networks in Tbilisi and Almaty. There were failures, but they were isolated and different: our server abroad could not establish a connection to the home page, and one probe in Amsterdam could not connect to online banking. Judging by these data, what matters is the specific network you use to go online, not the country.

Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development describes such cases in a similar way. On April 27, 2026, according to Anti-Malware.ru, the ministry said that key Russian platforms, including banks, work for users abroad, and that access to some resources may be restricted during large-scale DDoS attacks. The ministry’s advice is to change your connection type, for example by leaving hotel Wi-Fi for a local mobile operator’s network.

What our checks on October 10, 2026 showed

We requested two pages: the www.raiffeisen.ru home page and the online.raiffeisen.ru online banking login page. We didn’t sign in or type anything. All times are in UTC.

Bottom line: on October 10, Raiffeisenbank’s home page opened in Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Problems affected individual networks, and they were different: our server could not reach the home page even though online banking responded in half a second, while the probe in Amsterdam had it the other way around. According to our probe’s history, the home page usually opened from this server as well, in 14 of 16 runs over the week, but since the evening of October 10 there has been no connection. If one of the bank’s pages won’t load for you, another may well work.

What Raiffeisenbank says about customers abroad and VPNs

In the bank documents we opened, there is no separate section for customers who live abroad. But the general terms of service and the help page on online banking contain clauses that concern them directly.

• SMS abroad. Clause 2.14.3 of the general terms (the version in force since September 16, 2026) says that if the customer is abroad or has given a foreign operator’s number, “the risk of late receipt/non-receipt” of SMS messages from the bank increases, and the customer takes this risk into account when traveling.
• Blocking over residency. Under clause 2.18.9, the bank may block the card and the remote banking system or refuse a transaction if it finds that the customer’s residency status under currency law does not match the account. We don’t assess how this applies to people who have left Russia; that is a question for the bank.
• Suspicious transfer. If a transaction looks like a transfer made without the customer’s consent, the bank suspends it for two days under clause 5.8.3. The order must be confirmed no later than the following day, in person at a branch or through the contact center.
• VPN. In the “Problems with online banking” help page, the bank lists an active VPN among the reasons why codes don’t arrive in the app and asks: “for the app to work reliably, please turn it off.” The bank mentions a VPN twice more: if you can’t log in to the app (“turn off the VPN if it is on”) and among the reasons for errors during transactions (“VPN is on or the internet is unstable”).
• SIM card change. The same page explains that a SIM card error means the mobile operator has notified the bank that the card was replaced. You can confirm the card with your code word on the app’s login screen, and if that doesn’t work, through the chat or by phone.
• Transfers abroad. Since September 2, 2024, the bank has stopped outgoing transfers abroad in dollars, euros and other currencies (T—Zh, also known as T-Journal). Today, according to the bank’s help page, only rubles, Armenian drams and Belarusian rubles can be transferred abroad, and only to banks that accept them.

The Raiffeisenbank app abroad: where to download it

As of October 10, 2026, the “Raiffeisen Online Bank Russia” app was available in all three stores we checked.

• App Store. The app page opens in the Russian and Georgian App Store, and according to Apple’s lookup service, it is also available in the stores of Kazakhstan, Armenia, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, Turkey, Serbia, the UAE, Israel and Cyprus. The latest version, 7.74.1, was released on October 8, 2026.
• Google Play. The page is available, the last update was on September 28, 2026, and it has more than 5 million downloads.
• RuStore. Version 6.69.143 from September 28, 2026, with more than 1 million downloads.

We did not test the app itself from abroad. Install it from the official stores: the online.raiffeisen.ru page points to exactly these App Store and Google Play listings. If you use the app, confirmation codes come as push notifications: according to the bank, anyone who uses more than just the web version will get “a push, not an SMS.” How the apps of the country’s two largest banks fare is covered in our piece about Sberbank and T-Bank for people who have left.

What to do if the bank’s page won’t load

• Switch networks. The ministry recommends leaving hotel Wi-Fi for a local mobile operator. In our measurements, the result depended on the network, not on the country.
• Go straight to online banking. Type online.raiffeisen.ru: on October 10, this page opened from our server even when the home page did not respond.
• Use the app. If it is already installed, try logging in there instead of in the browser.
• Call the bank. On its home page, the bank suggests calling from Raiffeisen Online “from anywhere in the world”; the number +7 (495) 777-17-17 is labeled “Moscow,” and 8 (800) 700-17-17 is labeled “Russia.”
• Keep your Russian number. To recover a password, the bank asks for your phone number and a code from an SMS. Keep your Russian SIM card active, and turn on push codes in the app in advance.

What you risk when you access the bank through a VPN

Since January 1, 2026, new signs of transfers made without the customer’s voluntary consent have been in force, approved by the Bank of Russia in order No. OD-2506. They include a place of transaction and a device that are atypical for the customer (clause 1.6 of the appendix), as well as “use of an atypical communications provider” and of “tools that conceal session data” (clause 1.10). The bank’s protection may well treat a VPN connection as such a sign. The bank may then ask for confirmation, hold a transfer for two days under clause 5.8.3 of its general terms, or limit what you can do in online banking. So don’t let the Russian number the bank texts lapse, and work out ahead of time how you’ll reach the bank from abroad.

Raiffeisen Online from a Russian address: a week to try it

If neither a different network nor the direct online banking address helped, you can test a Russian IP. On October 10 at 23:16 UTC, we opened both pages over Liberum VPN’s location in Russia, and the home page and the login page each responded with code 200. That was one request from a program that doesn’t run JavaScript, not a login test. And remember that the bank itself asks customers to turn off VPNs so the app works reliably.

Trying it costs nothing, and perhaps it will work for you. Write to the Liberum VPS bot, set up the trial for 7 days (you won’t need a card), select the 🇷🇺 Россия (“Russia”) location, add the subscription link the bot sends you to an app such as Happ, switch the connection on and visit online.raiffeisen.ru. If the page opens but logging in or a transfer fails, turn the VPN off: the bank itself names it as a cause of errors in the app and during transactions. The Russian address is not yours alone: other customers of the service share it at the same time. There is more on getting a Russian IP address for sites that turn away foreign visitors.

What we don’t promise

• That logging in to Raiffeisen Online will work. We only loaded the login page; we did not check what the browser shows after you enter your login.
• That the app will work through a VPN. The bank itself links an active VPN to unstable app performance and undelivered codes.
• That your account and access to online banking won’t be blocked. The general terms allow the bank to block the remote banking system (clause 2.18.9) and suspend suspicious orders (clause 5.8.3), and its protection may treat a VPN as an atypical sign.
• That SMS messages will arrive on time. The bank itself warns about the risk of SMS messages being delayed or lost abroad (clause 2.14.3).
• That things will stay this way. Our data reflect October 10, 2026; networks and the bank’s protection change without notice.

Key takeaways

• Raiffeisenbank’s home page opened on October 10, 2026, for Globalping probes in five countries, including Russia; failures depended on the specific network.
• The website and online banking use a GlobalSign certificate; there was no “Your connection is not private” warning in our checks.
• If the home page won’t load, try another network or go straight to online.raiffeisen.ru.
• The app is available in the App Store, Google Play and RuStore; the App Store also lists it in foreign stores.
• The bank asks customers to turn off VPNs so the app works reliably, and it may hold suspicious transfers for two days.
• Both pages opened via the Russian location, which you can test for 7 days at no cost.