ArmInfo.The relevant agencies of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the government as a whole are engaged in the issue of clarifying the situation related to the suspension of the MIR payment system in Armenia. On March 20 during a weekly briefing, spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said, answering a corresponding question.
"We saw the corresponding message and explanations from the Armenian side on this issue. This requires additional clarification, which is what our department is doing now. The relevant departments and the government as a whole," she said.
On March 19 it became known that the link between the national card systems of Armenia and Russia - ArCa and MIR - will be suspended from March 30.
As the National Payment System (NPS) Armenian Card told ArmInfo, the regulator has decided to temporarily suspend the acquiring of ArCa cards issued by Armenian banks on the territory of the Russian Federation and, on the contrary, the acquiring of NSPK cards on the territory of Armenia.
In Armenia, only MIR cards issued by VTB Bank (Armenia) will be serviced and exclusively in the ATM and POS network of this bank. To date, the bank has issued over 188 thousand MIR cards, including pension cards. The bank's service infrastructure includes 201 ATMs and 54 POS terminals. The bank's branch network consists of 53 branches.
Notably, market participants expected a similar situation after the US adopted the 13th package of sanctions restrictions in February, which also included the Russian NSPK . According to market analysts, in connection with the above decision, an ambiguous situation will arise in the payment market of Armenia. Apparently, part of the funds from VTB (Armenia) cards will be transferred to NPS Armenian Card cards, however, in parallel, some relocants working in Armenia will prefer to open additional card accounts with VTB (Armenia) to transfer funds to and from Russia. Armenian banks will also suffer some losses; the situation will also affect the restriction of financial flows of small export-import firms, as well as the volume of private transfers.
