Central Bank of Russia: in 2023, Mir cards will be withdrawn to five more countries

Alla Bakina, director of the Department of the national payment system of the Central Bank of Russia, said in an interview with Izvestia that the regulator plans to expand the list of countries where cards of the domestic payment system Mir will be accepted. The plans for this year are to bring Mir maps to five or six new countries.

The situation differs from country to country. Some states are afraid of secondary sanctions, but there are also those that are ready to cooperate with Russia. Since the beginning of spring, Mir cards can already be used in Cuba. According to Bakina, the Cuban side is already setting up terminals for accepting cards. In mid-June, the launch of the Mir system in Venezuela was also announced. The cards are already accepted on the resort island of Margarita, and in the capital of the country the system is in test mode.

According to information from The Economic Times, Russia and India is discussing the possibility of accepting Mir cards and Indian RuPay. In addition, it was decided to explore the possibilities of interaction between the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of the National Payment Corporation of India and the Fast Payment System (SBP) of the Bank of Russia. The parties also intend to discuss the implementation of the Russian Financial Messaging System (SPFS BR) for cross-border payments.

Back in May, it became known that Moscow and Tehran had reached all the necessary bilateral agreements to use the cards of the Russian payment system Mir. The launch date of this system depends on the decision of the central banks of both countries.