Thousands of Russian citizens have been barred from the use of Apple Pay and Google Pay services after the United States imposed heavy economic sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.
Customers at numerous banks in Russia stated that they have been not able to use their bank cards with Google Pay and Apple Pay.
As per a statement by the Russia’s Central Bank, clients of banks that fell below the imposed sanctions (VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Otkritie) will now no longer be able to use or pay with cards of banks which are abroad.
The cards of those banks will now no longer be eligible for being used with Apple Pay, Google Pay services, however widespread contact or contactless payment with those cards is still available throughout the nation according to the Central Bank.
Google Pay and Apple Pay are not as famous in Russia as they’re in the US, The Verge reported last Saturday.
Russia’s most famous cellular payment provider became the Russia-owned Sberbank Online, closely accompanied by bYooMoney (previously Yandex Money) and QIWI, different Russian payment services
Last suggested figures confirmed that 29 per cent of Russians use Google Pay at the same time as 20 per cent use Apple Pay.
The US has placed sanctions on Sberbank and VTB Bank, of Russia’s largest financial institutions, at the same time as the United Kingdom froze the assets and properties belonging to 5 Russian banks.
The White House has additionally introduced that the United States, joined with the aid of using European nations and Canada, will cast off a few Russian banks from SWIFT, the fee system used for maximum worldwide economic transactions.