Conflict in Ukraine: Visa and Mastercard suspend operations in Russia

Visa and Mastercard suspend operations in Russia, Sunday March 6, 2022 DR

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1 min

The list of companies that put their activities in Russia on hold because of the war in Ukraine grows day by day.

On March 5 and 6, the American credit card payment giants, Visa and Mastercard, announced that they were suspending their operations in Russia. 

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Concretely, Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks will no longer work outside the country, and conversely, foreign cards will no longer be usable in Russia.

Visa says it is working with its customers and partners to stop all affected transactions in the coming days. 

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On the other hand, the cards will continue to function normally on Russian territory until their expiration date, promises the Central Bank.

However, she recommends that Russians traveling abroad bring cash... or the Mir card, the Russian equivalent of Visa and Mastercard, where it is accepted.

This is precisely where the problem lies: the Mir system is only functional in a handful of countries.

►Read: Sino-Russian trade: "Trade relations are not political"

Several establishments have therefore announced as of this Sunday that they are working to launch cards from the Chinese UnionPay network.

AlfaBank specifies that this would make it possible to carry out operations in 180 countries.

Sberbank intends to couple it with the Mir system... but the leader in the sector in Russia has not yet decided on the timetable. 

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