Why Visa and Mastercard Face Technical Blocks Returning to Russia

Western payment systems cannot return to the Russian market as long as sanctions and restrictions on interbank operations remain in effect, according to financial analyst and PhD in Economics Mikhail Belyaev. In a discussion with Pravda.Ru, Belyaev stated that forecasts regarding a prompt return of global financial giants currently lack practical grounds. The analyst's position follows recent comments from Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, who told RIA Novosti that Visa and Mastercard would return to Russia in the future, though he noted they would face stiff competition for the market share lost during their exit. Structural and Technical Barriers Belyaev notes that while the size of the Russian economy and a solvent customer base create a theoretical interest for global operators, political barriers and technical blocks on transactions in US dollars and euros render this interest purely hypothetical.