Barclays may seek investment from Russian banks

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) is seeking investment from Russian state-owned banks Sberbank (SBER03.MM) and VTB (VTBR.MM), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper's website, www.wsj.com , said the British bank had spoken to both Russian lenders but it was not clear how much investment it was seeking or whether its proposals had been successful. The newspaper did not give a source.

VTB declined to comment and Sberbank officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.

Barclays declined to comment.

Barclays has said it is attempting to raise 6.5 billion pounds from private sources to meet government capital benchmarks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Barclays already has a presence in Russia, after agreeing in March to buy Expobank for 373 million pounds.

(Editing by Quentin Bryar)