Armenia suspends operations with Russian Mir payment cards

Armenian banks on Friday said they would stop processing transactions made by Russian Mir payment cards due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, Report informs, referring to France-24.

Ditching the use of Mir cards is the latest in a string of diplomatic rows between Armenia and Russia.

In September 2022, the US Treasury Department threatened foreign banks with secondary sanctions for servicing Mir cards, a Russian card payment system.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in February that Russia has been using the system to evade Western sanctions, which have targeted Moscow's financial system.

The Union of Banks of Armenia said the country's commercial banks "will stop servicing Mir cards as of Saturday, because of the risk of secondary sanctions."

An exception will be made for Mir cards issued by the Armenian subsidiary of Russia's state-controlled VTB Bank, it added.