Dmitry Dubynin, CEO of Russia’s National Payment Card System (NSPK), has described the remaining Visa and Mastercard cards in the country as “useless plastic.” His remarks underscore a profound shift in Russia’s payments landscape, where the domestic Mir system now dominates and the global card networks have been reduced to a vestigial presence.
Dubynin’s statement, reported on July 16, 2026, stressed that cards issued by Visa and Mastercard “don’t provide any value” because their operations are entirely supported by the NSPK. The CEO described the leftover cards as “pieces of plastic” bearing the logos of companies that no longer operate in Russia. The comments crystallize a reality that has been taking shape since March 2022, when both Visa and Mastercard exited the Russian market following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The exit did not immediately render foreign-branded cards useless. Russian banks continued to issue and service Visa and Mastercard cards, and domestic transactions kept functioning because the NSPK—originally created after 2014 sanctions—processes all card transactions within Russia. However, international payments stopped working, and cardholders lost access to loyalty programs tied to the global networks. Over time, banks extended card expiration dates or made them indefinite, but the cards’ utility shrank to purely domestic use, entirely dependent on the NSPK’s rails.