YEREVAN, March 28. /ARKA/. The decision to ban the processing of Russian "Mir" cards in Armenia is a balanced and cautious position, said Babken Tunyan, head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Issues, MP from the ruling Civil Contract party.

Earlier it was reported that cards of the Russian payment system "Mir" will not be processed by ATMs and POS-terminals of Armenian banks from March 30, 2024, except for VTB Armenia Bank, a division of Russia's VTB.

The Central Bank of Armenia said in a commentary for the ARKA news agency that "commercial banks in Armenia independently decide which payment systems to cooperate with based on their risk management strategies, including those related to sanctions."

Tunyan believes that Armenia should not circumvent the sanctions imposed against Russia by a number of Western countries. 

"We should understand and realize the risks that may arise in case of circumventing anti-Russian sanctions," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

If Armenia's banking system tries to circumvent sanctions in some cases, it will find itself isolated from the world, he said. -0-