VTB might wind down its business in Ukraine if it is unable to sell its subsidiary banks in the country, the Russian state bank's head, Andrei Kostin said at the International Financial Congress.

"We would sell [the banks in Ukraine], but the catch there is that essentially no one that comes along, proposes, and they all say that [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko gave them approval, no one can ultimately get approval [from the National Bank of Ukraine] to buy a bank," Kostin said.

While looking for new buyers for its Ukrainian banks, VTB is also considering the possibility of dramatically curtailing this business, he said.

"The Ukrainian authorities don't want the sale of our banks, they want to kill them, slowly 'drown' and it will come to this, in my view. Therefore, in parallel with the search for the next buyers, who all say that they're ready, that they have everything approved, we've simply taken [a course] toward dramatic curtailment," Kostin said.

He said curtailment will require additional money. "We will, of course, need additional money, so we're selling assets, including collateral, closing offices. With this earned money we want to settle up with our clients, because without settling accounts you can't curtail," Kostin said.

"We want to close offices and essentially wind [our presence] down to one office in Kyiv in future," Kostin said.

The processing of winding down the business could take at least a year to 18 months, he said. "There's no other way. We need to curtail and see what happens next. Ultimately, we might close the bank," Kostin said.

The VTB Group now has two subsidiary banks in Ukraine: VTB (Ukraine) and BM Bank, which VTB acquired with the purchase of the Bank of Moscow.