From March 30, cards of the Russian payment system “Mir” will stop working in ATMs of most Armenian banks.
`This was reported by RBC, referring to the representative of “VTB Armenia” and its source in the Russian payments market. It should be noted that “Mir” cards now work in Armenia and are accepted by local banks. “The source of the Russian payments market also informed about the upcoming cessation of the operation of “Mir” cards in most of the country’s banks,” the newspaper reports. According to media reports, basic operations at “VTB Armenia” will be available to “Mir” card holders. Among them are cash withdrawals from VTB ATMs (Armenia), payments for online banking and online purchases.
What is remarkable is the synchronicity with which all commercial banks of RA, except VTB, suddenly decided to stop serving “Mir” cards, and we learn about this not from the banks of RA or the Central Bank, but by representatives of VTB. Such synchronicity indicates that the decision is political and taken at the top. It is no coincidence that in the latest resolution adopted by the Council of Europe, Armenia was called upon to avoid helping the Russian Federation, so that Armenian organizations would not be subject to Western sanctions. In fact, the government of Nikol Pashinyan decided to follow the advice of Western conservatives, without of course calculating the damage that such a decision could cause to Armenia and the economy of our country; It will not be superfluous to recall that the double-digit economic growth of the previous year, of which Pashinyan is so proud, was mainly ensured by the resettlement of Russians. At the same time, it must be understood that such hostile measures against the main trading partner will not go unanswered, and the response could be extremely painful for the Armenian economy. For example, the Russian side can prohibit transfers to Armenia. In this case, who will suffer the most when tens of thousands
of our compatriots working in Russia will not be able to help their families financially?
The volume of remittances from the Russian Federation began to increase sharply from March 2022, when the mass influx of Russians to Armenia began. Over the whole of 2022, it has multiplied by more than 4, exceeding 3 billion dollars. As a result, remittances have once again started to play an important role in the RA economy, as they did 10 to 15 years ago. In 2023, remittances sent from the Russian Federation increased 7 times compared to 2022 and amounted to $882 million. It is clear that by allowing themselves to be guided by the dictates of the West, the ordinary Armenian citizen will suffer again, but Nikol Pashinyan and his teammates do not seem to worry about this circumstance, the important thing is that the dictators remain satisfied …
Source: https://www.armenews.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=113885&fbclid=IwAR11MTQ4ONUlXlsyFltn6ofgsP_lnBTPc8z7riUeVUj12cdrIE2g0nkw6gA