Chinese payment system not working in Russia

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 29 Apr 2022 by Alex Teddy
UnionPay is not cooperating with Russia's main bank: Sberbank. UnionPay has stopped talks with other banks because it is worried about sanctions. The Russian news website RBC reported this on April 21.Russian banks wished to issue UnionPay cards because Visa and Mastercard do not work in Russia since February 2022. UnionPay has not said why it is not going ahead with card issuance. But sanctions is the only logical explanation.VTB, Alfa Bank and Otkritiye Bank had wanted to issue UnionPay cards. UnionPay issued only 1% of Russian bank cards in 2020. There was a surge in demand for the cards since February 2022.Those who have Russian UnionPay cards have said they cannot always use them to make payments to the USA, EU, Israel, Japan, South Kore and various Middle Eastern countries. The cards SOMETIMES work when paying to these American-aligned countries.Visa and Mastercard still work in Russia but only for payments within Russia. But when these cards expired they will not be replaced.Western countries had been reluctant to stop Mastercard, Visa and SWIFT for Russia. Western nations feared this would boost Chinese payment systems: UnionPay and CIPS. However, China is fearful of secondary sanctions. Despite the boast of ''a partnership without limits'' it seems that China is very limited in the economic pain it is willing to suffer on behalf of Russia.

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