ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/. Venezuela has already launched Russia’s Mir payment system, President of the country's Central Bank, Calixto Jose Ortega Sanchez, said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"It is already working," he said, answering a question from a TASS correspondent.

He also stressed that for his country it "doesn't matter" what the US and EU countries think about the financial cooperation between the Central Bank of Venezuela and the Bank of Russia and the Russian financial system.

In September 2022, the US Department of the Treasury warned that the National System of Payment Cards [NSPC, the Mir payment system operator - TASS] and the Mir national payment system could be used to process transactions related to individuals or activities subject to sanctions. Non-U.S. financial institutions entering into new or expanded agreements with the NSPC risk supporting Russia's efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions by expanding use of the Mir national payment system outside of Russia, the statement said.

About Mir payment system

The first countries whose banks began to accept Mir cards were Belarus and Kazakhstan in 2018. At the moment, the Mir payment system operates in about 10 countries, and more than 15 states have expressed their readiness to introduce it.

Venezuela was not the first Latin American country to introduce the Russian Mir payment system. In March of this year, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism announced that Mir cards can already be used in Cuba to withdraw cash by converting rubles into Cuban pesos.