Mir payment system

Mir is Russia's national payment card scheme, operated by the National Payment Card System (NSPK), and has become central to Russia's post-2022 financial infrastructure after Visa and Mastercard suspended Russian operations following the invasion of Ukraine. By mid-2026 Mir is completing its third-stage integration with Iran's Shetab interbank network, with full two-way card payment capability between the two countries expected around August 2026. Iran's central bank governor confirmed the timeline in Moscow on 19 June 2026.

Mir was created in 2015 following earlier rounds of Western sanctions, giving Russia a domestic settlement infrastructure independent of international card schemes. It is accepted at the vast majority of Russian merchant terminals and is the primary card scheme for Russian government salary and pension payments. As of 2025 Mir had been adopted for cross-border use in several post-Soviet and Middle Eastern states, though US secondary sanctions pressure has deterred uptake in many countries.

The Iran-Russia payment corridor is the most strategically significant Mir cross-border integration to date. It connects two heavily sanctioned economies via a system that sits outside dollar or euro clearing chains. Sanctions analysts note the corridor primarily serves bilateral trade settlement but could evolve into a broader parallel infrastructure if other sanctioned-economy partners join.