Following Western sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions in response to last week’s invasion of Ukraine, customers from several of Russia’s largest banks have discovered they can no longer use their debit and credit cards in conjunction with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Among the affected organizations include VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, and Otkritie FC Bank.
Customers with these banks can still use their cards to make contactless payments, provided the cards support this feature. Unfortunately, the payments won’t work overseas, and they can’t be used to make online purchases from retailers registered in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.
Apple Pay and Google Pay still have yet to completely catch on in Russia as homegrown options like YooMoney have proven more popular in these markets. According to data from 2020, only 29 percent of Russians reported using Google Pay at the time, while 20 percent said they had used Apple Pay.
The restrictions aren’t likely to have a dire impact on Russian consumers who have access to alternative banking methods. Still, the possibility of excluding Russian banks from the SWIFT inter banking system could lead to instances of currency volatility that would further hurt the country’s economy.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via Engadget, Business Insider, and The Verge