Apple, Google close loophole that allowed Russians to use payment services

Apple and Google have closed a loophole that enabled their users in Russia to keep using their services despite shutting down their services following economic sanctions imposed by the US on Russia in wake of the Ukraine war.

According to a report by Reuters, Apple restricted the use of Apple Pay in Russia starting March 1. The move prevented Mastercard and Visa card owners from using the service. However, Russia’s home-grown Mir payments system remained connected to Apple Pay until it was removed last week.

“Apple has informed NSPK it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service. Starting from March 24, users cannot add new Mir cards to the service. Apple will stop all operations of previously added cards over the next few days,” Russia’s National Card Payment System (NSPK) said in a statement on Friday.

Sherbank, which is a major lender in the country, also informed NSPK that Apple had notified it about the suspension of the Mir payment system in Apple Pay e-wallet. “All Mir cards previously tied to the wallet will be removed from the payment service by Apple itself in the near future. Further use of Mir cards in Apple Pay will not be available,” NSPK wrote, quoting Sherbank.

Google took a similar step last week in the case of Google Pay last week. As per a separate report by The Wall Street Journal, the company has paused its pilot program to enable Mir card users in Russia to use the card within Google Pay. “Google Pay is pausing payments-related services in Russia as a result of payment services disruption out of our control,” a Google spokesperson told the publication.

The report also said that even though Apple Pay and Google Pay have stopped working within Russia, the Russian people aren’t completely cut off from their money as the transactions done using Visa and Mastercard cards in the country are processed through NSPK’s system thanks to an agreement dating back to 2015.

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