Russian Digital Development Ministry's Dobynin becomes head of National Payment Card System

MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax) - Dmitry Dubynin has become head of Russia's National Payment Card System, operator of Mir cards, the NPCS said in a statement.

The National Financial Council had approved him for NPCS head.

Dubynin was deputy director of the Department for Coordination of Informatization at the Digital Development Ministry from 2013 to 2018. He worked at the Central Bank of Russia from 2018 to 2021, first as head of the department for analysis and development of financial technologies in the CBR's Financial Technology Department, and then as deputy director of the department. He returned to the Digital Development Ministry in 2021 as director of the Department for the Development of Digital Identification Technologies.

Vladimir Komlev, who headed the NPCS since its creation, left his post on January 1, 2024. Since then, his duties have been performed by Oleg Tishakov, who was previously head of the NPCS Organizational and Legal Department.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed blocking sanctions against Komlev on September 15, 2022. OFAC clarified that non-U.S. financial institutions who enter into agreements with NPCS risk being involved in actions to circumvent U.S. sanctions by expanding the use of Mir cards outside of Russia. NPCS then concealed its list of partner countries, and some banks stopped working with it altogether.

The United States imposed sanctions against the NPCS itself in February 2024. The company stated that they would not affect the operation of the Russian payment infrastructure. At the same time, foreign banks themselves decide whether to accept Mir cards in their infrastructure, the payment system does not impose any restrictions.

NPCS was set up by the Russian authorities in 2014 after a number of sanctions were imposed against Russia. The first Mir cards were issued in December 2015. The Central Bank is its sole shareholder.