Visa, Mastercard pulling out of servicing Russian cards from March 10

MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - The Russia-based subsidiary of the Visa payment system has said in a statement on its website that it will stop servicing cards in Russia from 12:01 a.m. of March 10.

From March 10, Visa payment cards issued in Russia will no longer be operable abroad or accepted by foreign online shops. The same is the situation with the Mastercard payment system, Raiffeisen Bank said in a statement on Telegram.

As reported earlier, the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard simultaneously announced suspension of work on the Russian markets.

The cards of these two payment systems issued by any Russian bank will continue working inside Russia as usual, as Russia's National Payment Card System has been processing transactions on them since 2015, the lender said.

Holders of Visa or Mastercard payment cards will still enjoy access to all funds on their accounts and all usual payment transactions such as payment for purchases, money transfers from card to card, cash withdrawals, etc. until the expiry date on their card. Visa and Mastercard payment cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be accepted for payment abroad and on foreign websites.

Major Russian banks announced after the statements of Visa and MasterCard that they are looking to issue Russia's Mir card co-badged with China's UnionPay.

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