Raiffeisen Bank International is delaying plans to leave Russia, three people familiar with its position said, as Austria steps up its defence of long-standing ties with Moscow. Raiffeisen (RBI), the largest of the Western banks in Russia, had intended to spin off its Russian business, which provides a payments lifeline to hundreds of companies there, by September after coming under pressure from European regulators. Austria and RBI, which is also at the centre of a U.S. inquiry over its Russian links, are resisting this in the hope that the war in Ukraine will end soon, the people told Reuters.