Apple Pay bans Russian electronic Mir cards

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Apple banned Russian Mir cards from its payment system Apple Pay, Russian lender SberBank announced on Friday.

"Apple is removing all the Mir cards paired with its wallets, making the use of Mir cards with Apple Pay impossible," said the bank.

Alternative systems, such as SberPay wallets for android users, remain usable, the bank noted, adding that it would work on other contactless payment services.

Mir is a payment system for electronic fund transfers established by the Russian Central Bank in 2017.

Since the beginning of the Russia's war on Ukraine in February 24, many western countries and companies announced sanctions including financial firms such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.