NSPK Moves to Push Visa and Mastercard Cards Out of Russia Through Interchange Cuts

Russia’s National Payment Card System (NSPK) has opened a fresh round of talks with banks on revising interchange fees for international payment system cards. The direction of travel is pretty clear: make Visa and Mastercard cards progressively less economical to keep in circulation, which matters for any PSP or acquirer still exposed to Russian card processing.

1. At a meeting of its council of market participants and users, NSPK discussed changing interchange on cards issued under international payment systems. The company says Mir now accounts for more than 75% of card transactions in Russia in the first quarter, while international payment system cards are gradually disappearing from use, even though some are still held by customers.
2. Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia in 2022 after the start of the war. Russian banks, together with NSPK, then extended the validity of already issued cards or made them perpetual so they would continue to work domestically. In December 2025, the Bank of Russia discussed with lenders disabling Visa and Mastercard cards with extended validity; Alla Bakina, director of the national payment system department at the central bank, said the regulator expected a decision soon. Earlier, in October 2025, she had said no abrupt move should be expected.
3. NSPK said the timing of these cards’ continued circulation has been under discussion since 2024, but market participants still have no common position. The council therefore backed the idea of not setting formal deadlines for ending circulation of international payment system cards that no longer work in Russia.
4. That said, NSPK CEO Dmitry Dubynin said supporting these cards still requires significant costs on NSPK’s side, even though banks are no longer launching new products on them and cardholders do not have access to the payment systems’ loyalty programs. NSPK proposed cutting interchange on international payment system cards to 1% from the start of 2027 and to 0% from the start of 2028. Dubynin said a phased reduction would let banks gradually and without much pain remove these cards from circulation, and that the market has one month to submit proposals.
5. For banks, the sticking point is obvious: interchange on Visa and Mastercard cards is higher than on Mir, so issuing banks earn more from them. When the international payment systems left Russia, NSPK froze those fees at their then-current levels. In November 2022, the Bank of Russia formally gave NSPK authority over banks’ work with international payment system cards, including dispute resolution and tariff setting. Market participants say NSPK has not changed those tariffs since then, while interchange on Mir cards has gradually fallen. NSPK now wants to remove that advantage by setting interchange on international payment system cards to zero.