GORKI, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/.The Russian government will reduce the amount of pledges that international payment systems Visa and MasterCard must pay with the central bank in order to continue operating in the country but it will not cancel pledges altogether, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Wednesday at a government meeting.

“The steps which we are taking will soothe Visa and MasterCard. If they still want to liquidate their divisions in Russia, which operate in Russia - it will be their responsibility, but we are doing our best to let them continue operating here,” Shuvalov said.

In May, President Vladimir Putin signed a law to establish the national payment system to struggle sudden blocking of credit cards of some Russian banks by Visa and MasterCard within the scope of the US and EU sanctions against the country.

Soon after the new law was signed, Visa and MasterCard were told to pay the pledges amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Visa is still thinking on quitting Russia, the company said in a statement, while MasterCard announced a tender to choose a locally registered provider of interbank processing services on Tuesday.