The loophole allowed mobile payments to continue despite sanctions.
In Russia, mobile payments have been put on ice. AOP
Apple has closed a loophole that allowed Russians to continue using mobile payment services in the country despite sanctions.
The news Wall Street Journal Apple said it no longer supports the Russian Mir payment system at Apple Pay. Mir is the Russian equivalent of Visa and Mastercard.
Apple said it will no longer accept new Mir cards in its payment service as of March 24th. In addition, the company said it would discontinue operations of cards already in use in Russia.
Google has taken similar action last week. Google has suspended a project aimed at offering Russian users the opportunity to connect their Mir cards to Google Payh.
Google announced that it would suspend Google Pay payment services in Russia “due to disruptions to payment services beyond Google’s control”.
The Central Bank of Russia established Mir after sanctions were imposed by the United States and several other countries in connection with the conquest of Crimea in 2014. According to data shared by the Central Bank, Mir cards are used in one in four card transactions.
Verge told reporters in late February how cards from major Russian banks such as VTB Group and Sovcombank ceased to operate on Apple Pay and Google Pay shortly after Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February.