All payment cards issued by Russian banks continue to operate as normal
The international payment systems Visa and MasterCard discontinue operation in Russia since 10 March. This means that the payment cards of these systems issued by Russian banks will operate as normal in Russia, but will no longer operate abroad and in foreign online stores. Apple Pay and Google Pay will also become unavailable.
All Visa and MasterCard payment cards will continue to operate as normal in Russia until the expiry dates specified on the cards. Customers can carry out all usual transactions without any restrictions, including payments for goods and services, cash deposits and withdrawals at ATMs, and card-to-card transfers.
Many banks have already announced that they will extend the effective period of these cards. After that, banks will reissue Mir cards for their customers. There is no need to block Visa and MasterCard payment cards before their expiry dates and issue Mir cards to replace them.
Mir cards allow all transactions available with the cards of the international payment systems. Customers can also connect to the Mir Pay service on Android OS smartphones. Mir cards are accepted in Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia.