On the night of March 6, the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard announced the suspension of their activities in Russia due to the situation in Ukraine.
In taking this step, we join with many others in the hope of a more positive, productive and peaceful future for all of us,
Mastercard said in a statement.
This decision means that Visa and Mastercard cards issued in Russia will not work abroad, and cards of these payment systems issued by foreign banks will not work in Russia. Cross-border transactions will also become unavailable – Russians will not be able to pay in a foreign online store and use Apple Pay and Google Pay services.
At the same time, it will still be possible to pay with Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks in Russia until their expiration date. This is due to the fact that transactions on them are processed in the National Payment Card System.
All Sber customer cards will work. It will be possible to make transactions on the territory of Russia using them – withdraw cash, make transfers by card number, pay both in offline stores and in Russian online stores,
Sberbank writes .
It is expected that the suspension of payment systems will take about three days. Russian banks have advised Visa and Mastercard cardholders abroad to withdraw cash. The Central Bank noted that in some countries it is possible to pay with the Mir card – today they are Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
To pay for purchases and withdraw cash in other countries, you can issue a co-badged Mir card – UnionPay (180 countries support it).
I am sure that the UnionPay boom will now begin in Russia. It seems that this is the way out with the departure of MasterCard and Visa,
commented in the telegram channel “Zucchini caviar for a promotion.”
UnionPay is a payment system created in China in 2002. In 2005, it acquired international status. However, only a few Russian banks issue UnionPay cards – Rosselkhozbank, Gazprombank and a number of others, including Sovcombank and Promsvyazbank, which are under US sanctions. On the morning of March 6, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank announced that they were working on the launch of Mir-UnionPay co-badged cards.
