Zakharova assures: consequences of stopping service of MIR cards in  Armenia to be higher than hypothetical damage of Western restrictions

ArmInfo. Moscow notes with regret that Yerevan bowed to West's pressure on the issue of servicing cards of the MIR payment system. This was stated on April 3 during a weekly briefing by spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, when asked to comment on the termination of service of MIR cards in Armenia.

At the same time, Zakharova believes that the Armenian economy will  suffer significant losses in this regard, citizens of the country  will face serious inconveniences, and it will become more difficult  for Armenians working in the Russian Federation to transfer money to  their homeland.

"Tourists are also losing the opportunity to pay with cards. Last  year, let me remind you, their number exceeded 1 million people.  There are other examples of how this will hit the Armenian economy. I  am sure that, unfortunately, the consequences of this step will be  higher than the hypothetical damage from Western restrictions,"  Zakharova concluded.

On the night of March 30, Armenian banks, which are members of the  national payment system Armenian Card (ArCa), stopped servicing  Russian Mir cards.

The National Payment Card System (NPCS), operator of Mir cards,  confirmed that it has received an official notification from the  payment system of Armenia that its member banks will stop servicing  Russian cards as of March 30, an NPCS representative told Vedomosti.  "Mir" cards have been working in Armenia since 2017 within the  framework of the joint project of the NPCS and the Armenian Card,  national cards were mutually accepted in the infrastructures of the  two countries: ArCa - in Russia, "Mir" - in Armenia.  Also, several  Armenian banks issued ArCa- Mir co-branded cards.

Payments with Russian cards are now available in Abkhazia, Belarus  and South Ossetia. In several other countries, Mir cards work  partially: they are Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.  Since 2023, Russian cards have also been accepted in Venezuela  (through the largest local acquiring bank Banco de Venezuela) and  Cuba.  In mid-March, Kazakhstan's Bereke Bank announced the  termination of interaction with the Russian NPCS. 

Notably, in 2023, 1.2 million tourists from Russia visited Armenia.  This is 50% of the total tourist flow to the country.