On March 6, Sberbank said that the decision of international payment systems to suspend work in the Russian Federation would not affect the operation of Visa and Mastercard cards within the country. At the same time, operations abroad and in foreign online stores will be limited.
“All Sber customer cards will work, it will be possible to make transactions on the territory of Russia with them – withdraw cash, make transfers by card number, pay both in offline stores and in Russian online stores,” the bank’s press service said. .
Sberbank explained that all payments in Russia go through the domestic NSPK system and are independent of foreign payment solutions.
At the same time, it is noted that payments abroad and in foreign online stores from Russian cards issued by Visa and MasterCard will be limited. Russians abroad were advised to withdraw enough cash in advance and pay large expenses in advance.
In a number of foreign countries cards of the Mir payment system are accepted (Turkey, UAE, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Cyprus), the press service of the company added.
On March 5, US multinational financial services corporation Visa said it was working to stop transactions in Russia. According to the company, Visa cards issued in the Russian Federation will not work outside the country, issued by foreign financial institutions in Russia.
The international payment system MasterCard also announced the suspension of operations in Russia. This measure implies that cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard system. In addition, the company emphasized that Mastercard cards issued outside the country will not work in Russia.
Experts have previously noted that the Mir card can be used as a full-fledged alternative to Visa and Mastercard in all transactions in Russia. The Mir Pay mobile payment service also works without failures in Russia – you can add both a regular bank plastic card and digital cards to it. However, the service is only available on the Android platform.
At the end of February, Washington also imposed sanctions on a number of Russian companies with state participation or organizations important for the economy, and on “two companies dominated by private capital.” The list includes Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, Sberbank, Otkritie Bank, Sovcombank, VTB, Rosselkhozbank, Moscow Credit Bank (MKB) and Novikombank.
Later, on March 1, the UK imposed restrictions on correspondent accounts of Sberbank, and also banned clearing operations in pounds.
In addition, the permanent representatives of the EU countries agreed to disconnect VTB, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank, Rossiya and Otkritie banks, Novikombank and VEB.RF from the SWIFT system of interbank payments. The sanctioned Sberbank and Gazprombank were not included in this list. Sberbank decided to leave the European market.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces, including from heavy weapons, was reported. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the republics. The documents were ratified the next day.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. After that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law. He also severed diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
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