State Duma bans money transfers to Ukraine via foreign systems

MOSCOW, Mar 22 (PRIME) -- The State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house, approved on Wednesday the third and final reading of a bill banning money transfers from Russia to Ukraine through foreign payment systems.

Under the law, in case a foreign state introduces a ban on Russian payment systems, cross-border transfers of money without opening bank accounts within payment systems, including foreign, will be possible from Russia to such a state only under the condition that the operator of the payment system, operators of payment infrastructure services are directly or indirectly controlled by the Russian government.

The central bank will post information on its Web site about foreign states introducing bans on payment systems, whose operators are registered by the regulator.

The law will take force 30 days after its official publication.

The document is aimed at eliminating negative consequences of a ban on operations of Russian payment systems on the territory of Ukraine, which led to restriction of competition on the Russian market of payment services carried out in the form of cross-border transfers of funds without opening accounts in favor of foreign payment systems.

In October 2016, Ukraine expanded sanctions against Russia, banning operations of a number of Russian payment systems on its territory.

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