Citibank, America's second largest bank, opened its representative office in Moscow on Thursday, making it the third U. S. commercial bank to establish a formal presence in Russia.


Sergei Drozhine, a spokesman for Citibank in Moscow, said the company's goal will be to gather information on Russian commercial banks here and to serve its Russian and international customers.


Drozhine said the company will also evaluate the prospects for opening a commercial banking operation here.


The company's office on Masha Poryvayeva will initially be staffed with five employees. It will be headed by Citibank vice president George Skouras, who was most recently based in New York.


William Rhodes, Citicorp's vice chairman, is in Moscow to celebrate the opening and meet with officials from Russia's Central Bank.


This is the second time Citibank has swung open its doors here. Many American banks shut down their Soviet operations during the 1970s and early 1980s and have been slow to rekindle business.


Chase Manhattan Bank, which has been in Russia for the past 20 years, and Bank of America are two exceptions.


European banks have had a firm footing here for decades, giving them a competitive edge over the Americans.


"It's just a different way of doing business", said one European banker who declined to give his name. "We have a different time span. Americans tend to look at business in the shorter term".


Bankers here feel it is still too early to say whether Citibank's move signals the start of a trend to be followed by other American banks.