Russian tourists have the opportunity to pay with MIR cards in two popular countries at once. The truth is very limited. As Vedomosti quotes, we are talking about Vietnam and Thailand. Several more countries popular with tourists are “on the way.”
The publication quotes a statement made by the director of the third Asian department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Nikolai Nozdrev. According to him, several banks in Vietnam began to accept cards of the Russian payment system “MIR”. He clarified that “this is, however, a fairly limited network of ATMs.” “But it allows our tourists to use the appropriate terminals to receive cash,” the representative of the Foreign Ministry said.
In addition, Mir is accepted in “one of the very large supermarket chains” in Thailand, the expert added. At the same time, in the long term, it is planned to expand the use of cards of the Russian system in the countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America. So, in March of this year, Cuban banks began to accept Mir cards, and in June, Calixto Jose Ortega Sanchez, President of the Central Bank of Venezuela, announced the start of Mir's work in the country. Also, Mir cards are accepted in Belarus, Abkhazia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Korea and South Ossetia.
Vedomosti also recalled that in early July, Alla Bakina, director of the national payment system department of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, said that the regulator plans to bring cards of the Mir payment system to five or six new countries in 2023. “Some states are worried about the threat of restrictions and listen to sanctions, but there are those who are ready to cooperate with Russia,” she added .
Recall that the biggest “cancellation” of the MIR was probably in Turkey. But at the moment, a new payment system has been announced for Russian tourists, which has been launched in Turkey to replace Mir, which was sanctioned. We are talking about a virtual card of the Turkish payment system Troy, pay for goods and services in the country and withdraw money from ATMs – and, accordingly, pay for shopping, excursions and gastronomy without any problems. The bottom line is this: the Letim application, available on iOS and Android, opens a virtual card for the Turkish Troy payment system for tourists. With its help, Russian tourists will be able to pay for goods and services, as well as withdraw money from ATMs in Turkey using a QR code. The virtual card can also be replenished with the Fast Payment System (FPS) in the amount of 250,000 liras per month, or about 850,000 rubles. To register in the application, however, you will need a digital scan of your passport. Read the details here.
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