US Treasury published List of natural and legal persons subject to sanctions timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the military operation in Ukraine. The operator of the Mir payment system, the National Payment Card System, was blacklisted.
“OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Ministry of Finance. – socialbites.ca) is targeting Russia’s core financial infrastructure, which includes the operator of the national payment system Mir, as well as Russian banks, investment firms and financial technology companies.” the ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry of Finance did not specify the reasons for imposing the restrictions. It is emphasized that this is the “largest number of sanctions” implemented since the inception of the CBO in February 2022.
Originally the “World” map was created for use only in Russia. In March 2022, Visa and Mastercard announced the suspension of work in the Russian Federation, and their alternative was the “domestic” card. With data The Central Bank announced that the share of transactions made with Mir cards in the total transaction volume in Russia in the first nine months of 2023 was 52.5 percent.
Mir cards are not yet accepted everywhere abroad. They operate in Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
It will not affect the work
NSPK’s press service said: RIA NewsIt was stated that the sanctions will not affect the operation of payment services within the country, and that the operation of Mir payment system services and transactions made through the Fast Payments System are carried out as usual and are fully available.
“US sanctions against the National Payment Card System (NSCP) will not affect the operation of payment services within the country,” the company said.
They also added that NSPK continues to conduct transactions as usual through international payment system cards issued by Russian banks.
On the Mir payment system side, there were no restrictions on working with foreign partners. “Foreign banks make the decision to accept Mir cards in their infrastructure independently,” NSPK added.
Who else was sanctioned?
The department and the U.S. State Department jointly sanctioned “more than 500 targets,” according to the U.S. Treasury. In addition, the US Department of Commerce imposed restrictions on 93 companies, 63 of which were Russian. The rest are registered in China, Turkey, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, India and South Korea.
to SDN list (List of individuals and companies with which US citizens and permanent residents are prohibited from doing business) The following credit institutions are incorporated in the United States: St. Petersburg Bank (custodian of the sanctioned St. Petersburg Stock Exchange), Bystrobank, Morskoy Bank, International Finance Club, Izhkombank, Chelindbank, RostFinancebank, Regional Credit and Modulbank.
Restrictions were also imposed on the Aurus automobile manufacturer, PIK group, Pipe Metallurgical Company, Geopromining, Elbrus Сapital, Siberian Coal Energy Company, Rosgeologiya, Yuzhuralzoloto, NOVATEK-Murmansk, Transcontainer, Almazyuvelirexport, SEZ Alabuga. , “Ruskhimallians”, OKB “Sukhoi” “, “Uraltransmash”, “Imperial Tula Arms Plant” and others.
A number of Russian officials and businessmen also found themselves under US sanctions. The black list now includes, in particular, the deputy director of the FSIN Valery Boyarinev, the head of the FSIN department of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Igor Rakitin, the head of IK-3 in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where Alexey Navalny is located. In addition to the dead, members of the government of the Kherson region, Vitaly Bulyuk and Alla Barkhatnova, and the head of the military-civil administration of the Kharkov region, Vitaly Ganchev, also died.
first reaction
In addition to the above, Washington also imposed sanctions on the Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov. He was the first to comment on the restrictive measures taken by the West.
“All these sanctions have long lost their meaning. They only clearly reveal the weakness of the West,” says Gryzlov. telegram channel Russian Embassy in Minsk.
According to him, while Russia and its partners are “trying to establish a new, just world order,” the West is “busy scribbling paper.”