Late on the evening of March 5, 2022, Visa and MasterCard announced the suspension of all operations in Russia. This will affect all Russian banks, not just those that were under sanctions. Visa and MasterCard cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country; those issued abroad will not work in Russia.
Earlier, Visa and Mastercard stopped working with Russian banks that fell under US sanctions: VTB, Otkritie, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and Novikombank. Now similar measures have affected all Russian banks.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation explained: Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Russian banks will continue to work in the Russian Federation as usual until their expiration date.
Operations on them are processed within the country in the National Payment Card System, and sanctions do not affect them. Client funds on accounts linked to such cards are completely safe and available.
Holders of these cards in Russia will be able to conduct transactions at ATMs, pay with cards, and make transfers from card.
At the same time, cross-border transactions with VISA and MasterCard cards will not be available. This applies both to paying for purchases in foreign online stores and using these cards abroad. When traveling abroad, it is recommended to take cash and a Mir card for those countries where it is accepted. Today, these are Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sberbank's statement on this situation: International payment systems have decided to limit their work in Russia in the coming days. This decision will not affect the operation of Sberbank Visa and MasterCard cards within the country.
All Sber customer cards will work, and it will be possible to use them to make transactions in Russia — withdraw cash, make transfers by card number, pay both in offline stores and in Russian online stores. This is possible because all payments in Russia go through the domestic NSPK system and are independent of foreign payment solutions.
Payments abroad and in foreign online stores with Russian cards issued by Visa and MasterCard will be limited. We recommend that Russians abroad withdraw enough cash in advance and pay large expenses (hotels, tickets) in advance. A number of foreign countries accept Mir payment system cards (Turkey, UAE, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Cyprus). Experts explained that all Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Russian banks will stop working abroad, in foreign stores, in Apple Pay and Google Play wallets.
Clarification from the National Payment Card System (NSPK): To pay for purchases and withdraw cash abroad, you can issue a Mir-UnionPay co-badged card, which will be accepted both in Russia and in 180 countries that support work with Union Pay. "According to the data Forbes, UnionPay is a payment system created in China in 2002, which acquired international status in 2005. About 3.3 million UnionPay cards have been issued in Russia, they are accepted by more than 95% of pos-terminals and ATMs in the country. UnionPay cards are only a few Russian banks - Rosselkhozbank, Gazprombank, Bank St. Petersburg, Post Bank, Zenit, Primorye, Primsotsbank, RRDB, Solidarity.
According to Interfax, Sber has announced plans to issue a Mir card with the Chinese UnionPay. The financial institution is considering the possibility of issuing a Mir co-badged card - UnionPay, the bank said in a statement. Sber promised to inform about the timing of the launch of this project additionally.
bbabo.Net