OREANDA-NEWS  Kazakhstan's banks have slowed down the processing of transfers from Russia due to concerns about secondary Western sanctions, according to Izvestia. Since the end of February, payments from Russia to Kazakhstan have taken two to three weeks, and some banks have even refused to work with Russian customers altogether.

Nikolay Dunaev, vice president of Opora Russia, explained to the publication that there are problems with both dollar transactions and transactions in national currencies, and that some banks are refusing to work with Russia altogether.

On April 3, Kazakhstan banks stopped servicing Russian Mir cards, citing fears of US sanctions. However, the state regulator has clarified that it has not made any such recommendations, and each bank makes its own decision about participating in the payment system based on potential benefits and risks.Kyrgyz banks have also stopped processing Mir cards. However, the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has assured that transfers between banks in the Russian Federation and Kyrgyzstan will continue even after Russian cards are no longer accepted in the country.