Apple Pay and Google Pay have been disabled for some Russian bank customers

Following the imposition of fresh financial restrictions on Russia, customers at a number of banks in the country are unable to use their bank cards to make purchases with Google Pay or Apple Pay. Several Russian financial organizations, including VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyaz Bank, and Otkritie FC Bank, were named as victims in a press release issued by Russia’s Central Bank.

While clients can continue to use bank cards from these institutions within Russia, they will no longer be able to use them when traveling overseas or making online payments to stores and services located in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia. This includes card payments made using Apple Pay and Google Pay, however, the Central Bank states that contactless payments will still be available through the bank cards themselves if they are compatible with contactless technology.

 

 

In Russia, Google Pay and Apple Pay are not as popular as they are in the United States. As reported in 2020, the most popular mobile payment service in Russia was Sberbank Online, which is operated by the Russian government. YooMoney (previously Yandex Money) and QIWI, two other Russian payment service providers, were second and third, respectively. When polled, Russians indicated using Google Pay as a payment method, while 20 percent reported using Apple Pay.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a number of countries have put financial sanctions on the country. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has stated that sanctions enacted by the European Union are aimed at 70 percent of Russia’s banking network. The United States has imposed sanctions on Sberbank and VTB Bank, two of Russia’s largest financial institutions, while the United Kingdom has frozen the assets of five Russian banks, according to reports.

Russia may be barred from participating in SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), the financial system used to communicate transactions across the globe, as nations consider blocking Russia from participating. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom are moving to directly impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin.