The Kremlin has made it clear that no Western banking institution can completely leave Russia without risking the nationalization of its remaining branches in the country. According to MF-Milano Finanza, even Italy's UniCredit will be unable to complete the entire closure sought by the Rome government to safeguard national security. This is also due to the fact that, from the perspective of the Russian authorities, a full withdrawal would equate to an unstructured liquidation of the bank, accompanied by all associated systemic risks. Moscow wishes to avoid this at all costs by enforcing existing legislation. The Russian front has thus become increasingly tense for Unicredit, caught between the Kremlin’s restrictions and pressure from the Italian government and the European Central Bank. UniCredit has reiterated its "solvent wind-down" policy, which entails gradually lowering country risk without a permanent withdrawal. Today, the bank's business in Moscow is only around 10% of what it was before the invasion, and its personnel has reduced to under a thousand, down from four thousand before the war. All new loan approvals have been halted: only previously authorized mortgages remain in effect, while cross-border transactions are conducted solely in euros and dollars, the two currencies effectively exempt from sanctions.