The Financial Times reports that Deutsche Bank is winding down its remaining software technology operations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, to terminate its two-decade reliance on Russian IT expertise.

The bank has offered individual severance packages to the 500 remaining IT professionals in Russia. According to a report citing sources familiar with the situation, it plans to lay them off within the next six months.

In a surprising move last year, Germany's largest bank announced it would wind down its Russian operations in response to harsh criticism from investors and politicians for its ties to the country in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow refers to as a "special military operation."

The lender then began relocating several hundred Russian IT specialists to Berlin. Handelsblatt reported that a mid-three-digit number of IT specialists had relocated by June last year.

According to the report, Deutsche Bank has not formally decided to close its Russian IT operations, but the move is considered a done deal internally.

The Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to Reuters's request for comment.