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International use of Russia’s Mir payment cards requires political decisions — expert

Vladimir Komlev also stated that, despite threats from international authorities, a number of countries are willing to engage with the Russian payment system

SOCHI, September 29. /TASS/. Full acceptance of Russia’s Mir payment cards at the international level requires large-scale ecosystem solutions, including political ones, General Director of the National Payment Card System Vladimir Komlev said on Friday.

"When it comes to large-scale, full-fledged acceptance of payment cards, larger-scale ecosystem solutions are required at the international level, including political ones, without which the full development of international Mir cards will still be difficult," he said.

Komlev also stated that, despite threats from international authorities, a number of countries are willing to engage with the Russian payment system. "They did not impose sanctions against the National Payment Card System, but they shook their finger at our foreign partners, preventing them from developing cooperation with us. This had a significant impact. There are no issues with friendly countries though, only complete understanding and willingness," he stressed.

At the same time, Komlev stated that there are certain issues with full acceptance of Mir cards in Uzbekistan, but that effort is being done to overcome these impediments. Venezuela and Myanmar will also join the Mir payment system in February, he added. "We are constantly hearing that work is in progress, in some countries, such as Cuba, POS terminals and ATMs are about to become fully operational, while Venezuela and Myanmar will be connected in February. There is a list of countries that are willing to work with Russia despite international, primarily American and British regulators' threats," he stated.

The United States added General Director of the National Payment Card System Vladimir Komlev to the sanctions list in September 2022, effectively barring him from doing business with US companies or citizens. At the time, the US Treasury indicated that it was prepared to apply penalties for aiding Russia’s efforts to promote the use of the Mir payment system outside of Russia. Although the National Payment Card System is not mentioned on US sanctions lists, financial companies, according to Washington, may support Russia’s efforts to circumvent US sanctions through cooperation with it.

The National Payment Card System was established in 2014, with two missions: to establish a center for processing local transactions for international payment system cards, as well as to issue and promote a national payment card. Since 2015, all Visa and Mastercard transactions have been processed through the National Payment Card System. At the same time, the Mir payment card was created.

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