Timur Izmailov, 33, an IT specialist at Raiffeisen’s Russian operations in Moscow, was conscripted on Sept 23, two days after President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilisation order. He died on Oct 13 after being hit by mortar fire, his lawyer Konstantin Yerokhin said.

Mobilisation has created an additional headache for foreign companies in Russia, caught between complying with Russian law on the one hand and seeking to protect their staff on the other.

Certain workers are exempt from the draft, including commercial bank employees ensuring the stability of the banking system. However, the chaotic nature of the mobilisation order has left even government ministries and state companies scrambling to help key workers avoid being called up to fight.

Izmailov had gone to his recruitment office on Sept 23 intending to explain that he was entitled to deferment.

“The military commissar told him he was not on the deferment list, so he had to be mobilised,” Yerokhin said.

The Russian central bank asked commercial banks to provide lists of employees needing deferment, and Yerokhin said these lists, including one from Raiffeisen naming Izmailov, had been delivered to the Russian military leadership, the General Staff, by Sept 28.

When Izmailov was not released, Raiffeisen wrote direct to the military commissar’s office to say that he should be exempted, according to an undated letter seen by Reuters. Izmailov was sent to the front on Oct 7.

Raiffeisen in Russia declined to comment and its head office in Austria, as well as the Russian Defence Ministry, did not immediately respond to inquiries.

Raiffeisen has operated in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago and its business there – which is the country’s tenth-ranked bank by assets – contributed almost a third to group net profit of €1.5 billion (US$1.5 billion) last year.