Apple has suspended its Apple Pay service for Russia’s Mir card payment system, Russia’s largest lender and payments system said on Friday, closing a loophole that had allowed Russians to keep using the service.
Apple has informed Sberbank that it is suspending the use of Mir cards associated with Apple Pay e-wallets. As of March 24th, Apple is removing all the Mir cards paired with its wallets, making the use of Mir cards with Apple Pay impossible in Russia.
Apple Inc restricted the use of Apple Pay, which began operating in Russia in 2016, on March 1 in the wake of Russia’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, preventing Russian Mastercard and Visa cardholders using the service.
But Russia’s home-grown system, Mir, remained connected to Apple Pay until that access was removed on Thursday, according to Russia’s National Card Payment System (NSPK).
“Apple has informed NSPK it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service. Starting from March 24, users cannot add new Mir cards to the service. Apple will stop all operations of previously added cards over the next few days,” NSPK said on Friday.
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