VIENNA (Reuters) -Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, one of the banks in Europe most exposed to Russia, on Friday disclosed that profit in Russia more than tripled in the first quarter of this year, partly due to higher interest income.

The European Central Bank has pressed the lender to unwind its highly profitable business in Russia, people have told Reuters, and RBI has been working on a solution.

"The group will continue to progress potential transactions which would result in the sale or spin-off of Raiffeisenbank Russia," RBI said in a presentation on Friday as it released details on better-than-expected earnings.

In Russia, profit after tax was 301 million euros ($332.39 million) in the quarter, up from 96 million euros a year earlier.

The higher interest income came despite a 24% decline in loan volumes, RBI said. A stronger rouble also helped lift earnings in the country.

($1 = 0.9056 euros)

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich and Tom Sims, Editing by Friederike Heine)