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coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

MOSCOW, March 19 (Reuters) - Armenian banks will stop

servicing Russia's Mir payment cards from March 30, Russia's

National Card Payment System (NSPK) said on Tuesday, creating

possible spending headaches for Russians living or travelling in

Armenia.

Mir payment cards, Moscow's alternative to Visa and

Mastercard ( MA ), have become more important since those U.S.

rivals suspended operations in Russia over the conflict in

Ukraine and their cards issued in Russia stopped working abroad.

Russia has been courting "friendly" countries - those that

have not imposed sanctions against Moscow - but only a handful

of nations actually accept Mir cards and banks in some countries

have backtracked on facilitating Mir transactions.

In February, the United States sanctioned the NSPK, which

operates Mir cards and had been working with Armenia's domestic

payments system (ArCa).

The NSPK said ArCa members would stop servicing Mir cards

from March 30, but that cards of Russian bank VTB,

which has 53 branches in Armenia, would continue working.

Armenia's central bank said on Tuesday commercial banks

could decide independently which payment services they should

cooperate with.

A financial market source told Reuters that Armenian banks

were balancing the risk of losing Russian customers against the

threat of secondary sanctions.

The limited reach of Russian bank cards reflects Moscow's

wider isolation on the global stage. Although many countries

have stopped short of imposing sanctions on Russia, very few are

keen to display open support.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow;

Editing by Ros Russell)