On the night of March 30, Armenian banks that are members of the national payment system “Armenian Card” (ArCa) stopped servicing Russian “Mir” cards. TASS was informed about this by the system’s call center.
“Today, banks working with our system have stopped servicing Mir cards. If necessary, you can contact specific banks that have stopped accepting your card,” said the operator of the ArCa center.
A representative of VTB Armenia Bank (a subsidiary of the Russian VTB) previously announced that from March 30, MIR cards will stop working in ATMs and POS terminals of most banks in Armenia. The changes will in no way affect the operation of VTB (Armenia) cards, the organization reported then. A bank representative explained that MIR cardholders will still be able to withdraw cash from VTB Armenia ATMs, pay for online banking services and pay for online purchases. There are 53 VTB branches in the republic, 22 of which are located in Yerevan. In total, there are more than 190 VTB ATMs in Armenia.
НСПК confirmed the termination of acceptance of Mir cards by Armenian banks
The MIR card operator, the National Payment Card System (НСПК), confirmed receipt of official notification from the Armenian payment system that its member banks will stop servicing Russian cards from March 30. “MIR” cards have been operating in Armenia since 2017 within the framework of the joint НСПК project, and the “Armenian Card” is mutually accepted in the infrastructures of both countries: ArCa in Armenia, “MIR” in Armenia. Also, a number of Armenian banks have issued co-branded ArCa-MIR cards.
In February 2024, the NSPK came under US blocking sanctions. Experts noted that the restrictions will not have a significant impact on the further distribution of MIR cards in other countries, but may complicate it.
Now you can pay with Russian cards in Abkhazia, Belarus and South Ossetia. In a number of other countries, MIR cards do not work everywhere: Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Also in 2023, Russian cards began to be accepted in Venezuela (through Banco de Venezuela, the largest local acquiring bank) and Cuba. In mid-March, the Kazakh bank Bereke announced the termination of cooperation with the Russian НСПК.