According to a press service, financial sources note that because partners refuse to breach sanctions rules applied to various banking institutions, cross-border transfers from cards tied to Russian banks cannot proceed for international payments.
The guidance emphasizes that cross-border transfers must align with the demands of direct paying partners, settlement banks, and the compliance teams in charge of transfers to other countries or from third nations. This leads to a practical outcome: customers of major Russian banks cannot send funds abroad through several common channels. When attempting a transfer via a mobile app, users may see a notification indicating the need to select or add a card from another bank to cover the transfer fee.
Nevertheless, the Golden Crown system allows money movement from Russia and other nations to more than ten destinations in various currencies, including dollars, euros, rubles, and local tender, depending on the recipient country.
Intermediaries carrying out cross-border operations for Golden Crown, especially those routed from cards issued by banks under sanctions, face the risk of falling under secondary restrictions. It should be noted that Corona Pay is not the only platform previously enabling outward transfers from Russia.
Bank sanctions and their scope
The recognition of separatist regions in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, paired with the initiation of military actions in Ukraine, led the United States, the European Union, and other nations to impose sanctions on Russian banks starting in early 2022. The U.S. Treasury placed sanctions on institutions including Sberbank, VTB, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank, Novikombank, Alfa-Bank, Rosselkhozbank, MKB, and Gazprombank. These banks appeared on the Specially Designated Nationals list, restricting transactions by U.S. persons and entities. Visa and Mastercard also halted interactions with some of these banks. Domestic card processing remains under the National Payment Card System, meaning in-country card transactions continue to operate. In total, more than 30 Russian banks face varying restrictions.
The sanctions also disrupted purchases from foreign online stores, halted support for Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, and led to the removal of many Russian bank apps from major app stores. In response, residents began opening accounts in neighboring countries such as Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and others to maintain accessibility to financial services.
With Visa and Mastercard suspended, Russian citizens turned to the Mir payment system abroad, though acceptance has declined and many countries do not recognize it. Some places that previously accepted Mir continue to do so, though there are no explicit sanctions at play in those scenarios. In places like Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka, Mir support has diminished, whereas it remains available in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and South Korea. Market observers note that foreign banks fear potential secondary sanctions tied to the Mir ecosystem, particularly after mid-2022 actions against the domestic NSPK. Despite this, Mir was not placed under direct restrictions by the U.S. Treasury to date. Additionally, from late February 2022, Russians began issuing cards tied to UnionPay for use abroad, expanding options for cross-border payments.
Disconnection from SWIFT
European and American authorities viewed the SWIFT exclusion as a key move to disrupt Russia’s banking operations. In mid-2022, Sberbank, Moscow Credit Bank, and Rosselkhozbank were disconnected from SWIFT, followed by further disconnections in 2023 affecting VTB, Rossiya, Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank, and VEB.RF. Banks continued to service domestic customers, but transfers to individuals abroad became impractical. The head of the central bank indicated that the financial system could still function smoothly thanks to a domestic messaging framework designed to replace SWIFT for internal use, even after the initial disconnection.
Broad sanctions coverage
By early 2023, several Russian lenders, including Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank, appeared in the EU’s sanctions package, reflecting their perceived importance to the Russian economy and their roles within systemically significant financial groups. The EU measures also targeted related entities in Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. For other Western institutions, Raiffeisenbank and UniCredit Bank remained among the few that were not sanctioned. The overall landscape shows a willingness by Western authorities to restrict access to international capital markets to pressure economic activity within Russia.
At the same time, market participants observed ongoing evolutions in how foreign banks and payment networks interact with Russian financial infrastructure, illustrating the fluid nature of sanctions and the responses from both sides. These developments continue to shape the capacity of residents and businesses to conduct cross-border transactions in a constrained environment. (Source: Financial updates and institutional releases.)