Russia’s Mir payment system will no longer be available on Samsung’s mobile payment service starting next week, the South Korean company announced on Wednesday.
“Starting April 3, 2024, adding and using Mir cards to Samsung Pay will not be available,” Samsung said in a statement published on its website.
“Samsung Pay will continue working in the republic of Belarus without any changes. You can add and use Visa and Mastercard cards of our partner banks from the Republic of Belarus in Samsung Pay,” it added.
Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on Mir’s operator, the National Payment Card System, as part of sweeping penalties against Moscow to mark the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
More than half of Russia’s population is estimated to have a Mir card after Visa and MasterCard ended global support for their cards issued by Russian banks, making those cards unusable outside of the country.
Samsung Pay is the third digital wallet service to remove Mir after Apple Pay and Google Pay cut ties with the Russian payment system shortly after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Android app store Google Play reportedly removed the Mir Pay app, though no official statement from the company has been issued as of Wednesday afternoon.
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