Armenian banks that are members of the Armenian Card (ArCa) payment system and their payment terminals will stop accepting cards from the Russian Mir payment system from March 30. This was reported by VTB Armenia Bank and the National Payment Card System (NSPC), the operator of the Mir system.
“NSPC received an official notification from the payment system of Armenia that from March 30, banks ArCa participants will stop servicing Mir cards,” said representatives of the Russian Mir system.
After this, only VTB Armenia, a division of the Russian VTB, which is already under sanctions, will continue to accept Mir cards .
In February 2024, on the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US authorities imposed sanctions against the NSPK. By this time, in addition to Armenia, Mir cards were accepted in Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Cuba. The former subsidiary bank of Sberbank in Kazakhstan, Bereke Bank, has already announced the termination of interaction with NSPK.
Before this, in September 2022, the United States included the General Director of NSPK Vladimir Komlev on the sanctions list; The decision led to the fact that the largest private and public banks in Turkey and the largest in Kazakhstan, Halyk Bank, refused to accept Mir cards.