Cuban bank ATMs have begun to accept the Russian Mir payment system, the version of Visa or Mastercard launched by the Kremlin in 2016 to circumvent possible economic sanctions. Mir’s press office confirmed to the Russian agency Sputnik that works on the international acceptance of cards in “friendly countries, including Cuba, which is very popular with Russian tourists.”
Asked by this newspaper, the employee of a branch of Banco Metropolitano in the capital replied that it was so, although she was not sure.
What is certain is the inclusion in the ATMs of the logo of this payment system, which will allow Russian tourists to withdraw cash converted from rubles to Cuban pesos.
On the other hand, the Cuban ambassador in Moscow, Julio Garmendía, assured this Tuesday that he hoped that Russian tourists would be able to make their payments on the island with this type of card this summer. The diplomat records a note in the official agency Latin Presshopes that “all difficulties with the introduction of the Russian payment system will be resolved soon.”
The Cuban ambassador in Moscow, Julio Garmendía, assured this Tuesday that he hoped that Russian tourists could make their payments on the island with this type of card this summer.
In any case, they will face the same problem that Visa or Mastercard do in many small private businesses in Cuba: that they don’t even have POS (the terminals that read the cards), which forces them to pay for the service in cash.
However, for the moment, the most luxurious establishments do not seem to be aware of the new system. At the Grand Aston hotel, for example, they told 14ymedio that they do not accept Mir cards, and that the problem is not theirs, but that “Russian banks are blocked worldwide.”
Russia created the Mir system after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and two years later began issuing the cards for internal operations. In 2022, it sought to extend its use abroad after its participation in the international banking system was banned following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Among the nations that accept Russian cards are South Korea, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Turkey and Tajikistanalthough in the latter two the service was suspended last September because the ATMs and point-of-sale terminals were not working.
Since the tightening of sanctions against Russia, Cuba has advocated the use of Mir cards and promised to speed up the implementation of the system. At the beginning of March, the Russian ambassador in Havana, Andrei Guskov, said that the incorporation of Mir is part of “a considerable number of financial and energy projects” agreed during Miguel Díaz-Canel’s tour in November 2022.
At the Grand Aston hotel, for example, they claim that they do not accept Mir cards, and that the problem is not theirs, but that “Russian banks are blocked worldwide”
In statements to Sputnik, the diplomat indicated that new formats are being discussed for the construction of power units at the Máximo Gómez (Artemisa) and Habana del Este thermoelectric plants, in the midst of an energy crisis that generated constant blackouts of up to 12 hours in 2022. and whose return is predicted for this year.
Russia also has a presence in the automotive sector with the GAZ brand, which assembles the Gazel, Ural and PAZ models. Among the new projects, the official added, is the creation of a commercial house for the promotion of Russian products in the Cuban market.
In addition, Guskov confirmed that the modernization works of the Antillana de Acero metallurgical plant are in the final phase, executed with a credit of 111 million dollars offered by Russia in 2017.
During the pandemic, when the borders of many countries were closed, Russia was one of the main sources of tourists to the island, but its arrivals plummeted after the invasion of Ukraine, due to sanctions against airlines to cross European airspace. . Data from the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei) confirm that at the end of 2022, 6,623 Russian travelers were received, equivalent to a drop of 54.7% compared to 2021.
A report by the organization Cuba Siglo 21 estimates that the visit of Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, to Cuba and Venezuela, at the beginning of March, is linked essentially to military aspectsand not to economic and scientific development projects, as was reported by the state media.
The report, signed by former Cuban general Rafael del Pino, states that Russia “is getting closer and closer to a humiliating defeat” of its operation in Ukraine, for which it seeks to strengthen its image in the region for “the establishment of a presence naval military in the Caribbean”, as happened during the Missile Crisis in 1962.
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