Ukraine’s central bank on Wednesday asked central banks in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Vietnam to suspend all transactions with cards of Russia’s Mir payments system.
It also asked Armenia and Turkey to take similar moves.
In a statement, the National Bank of Ukraine said it had asked the banks to stop accepting Mir cards in their ATMs and to make it impossible to use these cards in e-commerce and person-to-person transfers.
“This appeal comes amid the urgent need to scale up global financial pressure on the aggressor country as it proceeds with its assault on Ukraine,” the statement said.
On Monday, Ukraine’s foreign minister apologised after accusing Israel’s flag-carrier airline El Al of continuing to accept payments through Mir.
Dmytro Kuleba said the use of the payment system was “immoral and a blow to Ukrainian-Israeli relations”.
However, El Al said it had banned Mir payments since February 28.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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