Visa and MasterCard join Russia’s National Card Payment System

On April 1 Visa and MasterCard joined Russia’s newly-created National Card Payment System, which was launched in response to US sanctions against Moscow and can be considered the first step towards the creation of an autonomous financial system in Russia.

“The national system has already been introduced, quickly and at a little cost, and it has fully resolved the problem of payments inside the country,” says Sergei Khestanov, professor of finance and banking at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.