Are Mastercard And Visa In Russia
As we expected, Mastercard and Visa’s systems have not been used in Russia since the beginning of 2015. But there is still Visa working in Russia 😉 Russian VISA are interesting to lots of people because it makes paying more convenient and cost effective than cash. Everyone loves a bargain and the last thing you want when you’re on holiday is for your cash to go missing or get stolen!
A major payment processor in Russia, Qiwi, recently announced that it would not be accepting Visa and Mastercard credit cards starting next month. This means that all Visa and Mastercard holders moving forward will no longer be able to use their cards on the Qiwi network of ATMs and point-of-sale terminals. This is good news for the Russian government, which has been working to decrease usage of US dollars in Russia since 2014.
Visa, Mastercard and American Express have announced they will suspend all operations in Russia in protest at its invasion of Ukraine.
But Russia’s major banks have already downplayed the impact the move will have on consumers.
Shoppers will still be able to use the cards for purchases within Russia until they reach their expiry dates.
But Visa, Mastercard or American Express cards issued abroad will no longer work at shops or ATMs in Russia.
Clients will no longer be able to use their Russian cards abroad or for international payments online either.
Visa and Mastercard alone control about 90% of credit and debit payments in the world, outside of China.
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Earlier, Russia’s central bank insisted that all Visa and Mastercard bank cards issued by Russian banks would continue to operate normally on Russian territory. That is because domestic payments in Russia are made through a national system and don’t depend on foreign systems.
Russia’s biggest state-backed bank, Sberbank, said its cards would still work “to withdraw cash, make transfers using the card number, and for payment at offline as well as at online Russian stores”.
Since 2015, the Russian government has required all domestic payment transactions in the country be processed there. This followed similar suspensions of operations by Visa and Mastercard in Crimea, following its annexation.
Several Russian banks suggested that they would start issuing cards that use the Chinese UnionPay system, coupled with Russia’s Mir payment network, to avoid any impact for consumers.
Farida Rustamova, an independent journalist who left Russia because of the invasion, criticised Visa and Mastercard’s decision, saying it would cut off people like her from much needed funds.
She told the BBC she had raced to withdraw cash following the news as she hasn’t set up a foreign bank account yet, and many others face the same problem.