Banks in Mongolia are set to start servicing Russian Mir payment system cards soon.

Belarus and Kazakhstan were the first nations to start accepting Mir cards in 2018. Over ten nations already use this Russian payment system, while more than 15 others have expressed interest in adopting it, the report said.

Last October, media reports said that Egypt was among the countries looking to start transacting with Mir payment cards.

The Russian financial services industry is facing unprecedented sanctions from the US-led western alliance in response to Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.

Last year, the US Treasury warned that non-US financial institutions “risk supporting Russia’s efforts to evade US sanctions through the expanded use of the MIR National Payment System outside the territory of the Russian Federation.”

The US government has also said that it is prepared to impose sanctions on organisations that aid Russia in dodging them.