Russia works on resuming the operation of its Mir bank cards in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan
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YEREVAN, June 7. /ARKA/. Russia works on resuming the operation of its Mir bank cards in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said on Friday.
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“Of course we do [work towards that goal]. We cooperate on this matter, but [Armenia and Kyrgyzstan] are both under heavy pressure from the West,” Pankin told Russian state agency TASS at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.nbsp;
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The Deputy Foreign Minister claimed that the Western countries hit Armenia’s and Kyrgyzstan’s “weak spots” as they force commercial banks to stop accepting Mir cards.nbsp;
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All Armenian banks, except for the Russian-owned VTB bank, stopped accepting Mir cards on 30 March 2024 due to the payment system being sanctioned by the Western countries. The Central Bank told ARKA that it had not imposed any ban on the Mir cards in the country, allowing each commercial bank to make its own decision.
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Mir is a Russian payment system, similar to Visa or Mastercard, introduced in 2015. It has been present in Armenia since 2017 as part of the deal that allowed cards that use either Mir or ArCa, the Armenian national payment system, to be accepted in both countries. Additionally, some Armenian banks issued joint ArCa-Mir plastic cards.
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