INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia is encountering difficulties in the global expansion of its payment system set up to circumvent Ukraine-related sanctions, the head
of the Russia's Central Bank said Friday.Visa and Mastercard suspended their operations in Russia following the Ukraine offensive, meaning
fact the cards are not accepted around the world.Russian authorities would like the cards to be accepted abroad, which would ease the
financial difficulties Russians now face while traveling."We are working with many regulators from many countries to extend the use of Mir
were reluctant to join the Mir system as they are "trying to minimize the risk of (potential) sanctions against them."More than 100 million
Mir cards have been issued over the past seven years, meaning over half of the Russian population has one, according to figures from the
card's issuing company.Some of the population does not have a choice: public sector employees and pensioners need a Mir card to receive
state funds and benefits.The Mir payment system is currently only available in a handful of countries including Belarus and
its dependency on the dollar and the United States -dominated global financial system after being hit by unprecedented sanctions since it
launched the Ukraine offensive in February.
