The largest Western banks that continue to operate in Russia have paid 800 million euros ($857 million) in taxes to its budget in 2023, which is four times more than before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times (FT) reported on April 29, citing its analysis. In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s banks – increasingly isolated from the global economy and laden with heavy Western sanctions – saw profits fall by 90% compared to 2021. Despite this, the Russian banking industry is once again thriving. Russia’s state-owned Sberb…