OREANDA-NEWS. The press service of VTB in the official Telegram channel reported that previously issued plastic cards of the bank, including Visa and Mastercard payment systems, will be valid indefinitely. It is noted that it will no longer be necessary to further extend the validity of cards or re-issue them.

All VTB cards will now be valid indefinitely, there is no need to renew or reissue them. In particular, the cards of foreign payment systems, which are still valid in Russia, will continue to work. The decision of foreign payment systems to stop working in Russia will not affect the customer service of VTB in the country, the report says.

The bank's press service also previously reported that VTB customers have issued 27,000 digital cards of the Mir domestic payment system in recent days. Demand for cards of the Russian payment system has grown seven times.

On March 6, Visa and Mastercard announced the suspension of their activities in Russia. This means that the cards of these interbank payment operators issued on Russian territory will not work outside the country. In addition, cards of these systems issued by foreign financial institutions will not be serviced in Russia, they will not be able to pay for purchases or withdraw cash.