MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) - Visa and MasterCard blocking transactions of Russian clients under Western sanctions is a grave violation of cardholders' rights, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview to Bloomberg TV on Monday, adding that the payment service providers are in talks with the Russian Central Bank.
"I leave sanctions aside, leave political decisions. Let's take a look at this situation from another point of view. I am a regular Russian holder of a card, which was issued, emitted by a foreign payment system... Let me point out, I don't have a relationship with a foreign state, I have a relationship with my bank, which uses the card. I would not even think that my payments depend on the position of a foreign country," Medvedev said.
After the recent sanctions imposed on Russian officials due to the escalating conflict in Ukraine, Visa and MasterCard denied service to several Russian banks, raising concerns about the security of the country’s financial system.
From the point of view of Russian and international law, what Visa and MasterCard have done is a violation of the agreement with the clients - not with a bank, but an individual, who trusted these systems.
"I think, if I were a lawyer (which I am not at the moment, unfortunately), I would gladly spend some of my time and efforts to take these payment service providers to court, as they say nowadays. I believe, this is the gravest violation of the existing contracts, existing agreements," the prime minister said.
Moscow has launched a legislative initiative to establish a national card payment processing system, which may take up to six months to launch and two years to issue cards.
Visa and MasterCard said they were concerned about the future of their business in Russia in light of the new legislation. Neither of the sides is dramatizing the situation, however, Medvedev said.
"At the moment, the Central Bank, our commercial banks and Visa and MasterCard are in talks about this. No one is dramatizing the situation, but you have to agree, some reaction needed to follow what our respected partners had done against our banks," he said.
The United States introduced sanctions against 20 Russians and Rossiya Bank after the Crimea rejoined Russia this March. Visa and MasterCard followed up with first cancelling transactions for the clients of Rossiya and SMP Bank, as well as Sobinbank and Investcapitalbank, and then limiting the restrictions only to Rossiya.
