The Russian Embassy in Ankara recommended Russians who are going to visit Turkey to take cash currency with them because of the problems with the cards “Mir”, according to the telegram channel of the diplomatic mission’s press service.
“We advise Russian tourists and in general those who are going to visit Turkey to carry a sufficient amount of cash currency for everyday expenses,” the statement said.
At the same time, the embassy recommended that Russian tourists continue to use Mir cards through the terminals of those banks that have not abandoned cooperation with the Russian payment system, such as Ziraat bankası. Other Turkish banks that accept Mir cards were advised to establish “by experience”.
Cards of the Russian payment system “Mir” are accepted in Turkey, Vietnam, South Korea, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
However, on September 15 Financial Times learned about the U.S. and EU plans to increase pressure on Turkey because of the connection of local banks to the payment system “Mir”. After that the problems with the work of Russian cards reported Tourdom portal and a representative of the hotel chain Titanic.
Later, two Turkish banks, Isbank and Denizbank, stopped accepting Mir cards. The Isbank explained to Bloomberg that they had seen and assessed the statement of the US Ministry of Finance concerning the cooperation of financial institutions with the Russian payment system and decided to suspend transactions with it.