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Kyrgyzstan works on resuming servicing Mir payments cards

According to Kyrgyz Economy Minister Daniyar Amangeldiev, the country’s national payment system, Elkart, is also currently based on the software used to service Mir cards in Kyrgyzstan

EKATERINBURG, July 9. /TASS/. The relevant services in Kyrgyzstan are currently taking all necessary measures to restore the service of Russian Mir payment cards on the territory of the country, Kyrgyz Economy Minister Daniyar Amangeldiev told reporters.

"This issue is on the agenda, we are looking for new ways, new software. Today, our Interbank Processing Center is developing its own [software]. I think that as soon as we complete this process, it will certainly resume its work," he said.

According to him, the country’s national payment system, Elkart, is also currently based on the software used to service Mir cards in Kyrgyzstan. "At the request of our European partners, who own this software, we were forced to refuse to service Mir cards, as this would undermine our internal payment system," the Minister explained.

Kyrgyzstan announced in early April that it would stop servicing Mir cards. For the first time, a number of banks in Kyrgyzstan announced their intention to refuse to work with Mir cards due to the threat of sanctions from Western states in the fall of 2022, but most local banks continued to cooperate with the Russian payment system.

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