Turkish Airlines, due to the blocking of Russian cards by the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard abroad, on March 10 suspended the sale of tickets to Russians for flights from Turkey to third countries. This was reported by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) with reference to a letter sent by the airline to ticket agents.
“We inform you that from March 10, 2022, Turkish Airlines temporarily suspends the possibility of selling tickets with routes outside the Russian Federation. Currently, ticketing is only possible with departure/arrival from/to the Russian Federation,” Turkish Airlines said in a statement.
ATOR clarifies that it is no longer possible for citizens to buy a separate ticket for a Turkish Airlines plane from Turkey to another country outside of Russia.
Turkish Airlines does not tell ticket agents the duration of the restriction, specifying only that it will last until further notice.
International payment systems Visa and Mastercard cease to work in Russia from March 10. Cards of these systems, issued by Russian banks, will not work abroad; they also cannot pay for purchases in foreign online stores, including through Apple Pay and Google Pay services. At the same time, such cards will work on the territory of Russia until their expiration date in the normal mode, since transactions with them are processed within the country.
Many banks have already announced that they will extend the validity of Visa and Mastercard cards. Some, including VTB, will make them perpetual. After the expiration of the validity period, banks will reissue Mir cards for their customers, which the Central Bank recommends taking when traveling abroad. It is accepted in Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
On February 24, the United States imposed sanctions on a number of major Russian banks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The SDN list, which provides for the maximum possible restrictions and a complete freeze of assets, includes VTB, FC Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank. Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has come under lighter sanctions that include limits on US correspondent accounts. The United Kingdom took similar measures against Sberbank, which also imposed sanctions on a number of Russian banks. The EU has disconnected seven credit institutions from the international interbank SWIFT system – VTB, Rossiya Bank, Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF, Time.News reports.
