Türkiye, Russia work on bank transfer issues: Kremlin

MOSCOW

Russia and Türkiye are trying to remedy problems with bank transfers due to anti-Russian sanctions, TASS quoted Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

"In all financial concerns, contacts at the working level are maintained on a regular basis in order to find a solution. Certain difficulties exist, but it is clear what is causing them. This majorly harms the interests of both our and Turkish business operators,” Peskov told reporters on April 8.

Türkiye’s exports to Russia increased from $9.3 billion in 2022 to $10.9 billion last year.

However, exports declined by 34 percent in the first three months of 2024 from a year ago to $2.05 billion. In March alone, Türkiye’s goods shipments to Russia fell 28 percent annually to $758 million, according to the latest data from the Turkish Trade Ministry.

Halyk Bank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan, has stopped servicing cards of the Russian payment system Mir since the end of February, an employee of the call center of the financial organization told TASS.

According to him, this applies to both ATMs and POS terminals. However, he did not specify the reasons for the current restrictions.

The operator of the national payment system Elkart also reported that Russian Mir payment cards will stop working in Kyrgyzstan on April 5 due to U.S. sanctions, according to the Russian news agency.