Does the State Duma of Russia bury Visa and MasterCard activities?

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The State Duma of the Russian Federation is considering a set of amendments to the federal law “About the National Payment System”. In view of the made corrections, it is proposed to introduce certain restrictions for the international payment systems. This may mean that such systems as Visa and MasterCard will prohibit disabling sanctions from working with payment cards.

Also, a number of Russian subsidiaries of these payment systems will not be able to streamline the rules of their work with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. This can lead to the departure of such banks and companies out from Russia.

Experts have already expressed fears that as a result of such actions the clients themselves may suffer the most. This will make accepting cards from Russian banks abroad practically impossible, and within the state, it will not be possible to accept payment cards of foreign banking institutions. It is also likely the amendments might be adopted before the end of July, more precisely on July 23, during the next review in the State Duma meeting.

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