(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. is discussing the potential sale of its operations in Russia with privately owned Russian companies including Expobank and the insurer Reso-Garantia, the Financial Times reported.

The Wall Street bank is negotiating over its consumer and commercial businesses, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Rosbank, Societe Generale SA’s former Russian subsidiary, has also expressed interest, the FT said.

A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.

Citigroup’s Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser told Bloomberg News in May that the firm was in “active dialog” with potential buyers of its consumer and commercial banking operations in Russia. Investors had grown increasingly concerned that the invasion of Ukraine -- and the financial sanctions thrust upon many of Russia’s largest banks -- could thwart efforts to exit operations in the country, a push the Wall Street lender first announced last year.

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