Post Sanctions: Sending Money to Russia & Using Russian Bank Cards

[Manny]

I found a drawback with Wise (formerly Transferwise). As a US firm, they’ve joined the party and are preventing transfers to Russia in any currency.

No great hardship to me as I’ve other means to do what I need to do. But it will inconvenience folks who send a few bob to Russia to help out the folks, etc.

As of yesterday, transfers to Ukraine were still working.

[andrewfi]

I found a drawback with Wise. As a US firm, they’ve joined the party and are preventing transfers to Russia in any currency.

No great hardship to me as I’ve other means to do what I need to do. But it will inconvenience folks who send a few bob to Russia to help out the folks, etc.

As of yesterday, transfers to Ukraine were still working.

Actually, they're British these days. Started out in Estonia. However, the UK seems to be the most rabid of the dogs nipping at the bear's hamstrings.

An option that presents itself at the moment is to use crypto. Crypto is legal for use in Ukraine and is becoming so in Russia. There's been a lot of crypto activity in both countries in recent days.

For those who made the mistake of using Paypal to 'buy' crypto, sorry, you're out of luck. You cannot send the crypto you thought you bought outside of Paypal. You have to sell it into dollars, sterling, whatever and send the currency in that form.

[Gipsy]

Visa, MC, and others issued by Foreign (to Russia) banks, are not working in Russia, so cash drawdown/purchases cannot be made..
Crypto is very difficult to work with in small amounts ( a few hundred $), though it may be still possible to find a small buyer, but with the possibility of a large value markup..
There may still be some P2P working, I have not looked..
PayPal has stopped all transfers of funds to Russia..
There may be the option, if one has a Chinese bank acc, of transfers into China and onward to Russia, but that's a guess..

[andrewfi]

Gipsy, do Mir cards not work for cash withdrawals from bankomats?

[Gipsy]

Yes...They work ok at this time...

[Manny]

So we'd assume that Sberbank and others will replace all domestic Visa cards with MIR cards now?

[Gipsy]

So we'd assume that Sberbank and others will replace all domestic Visa cards with MIR cards now?

There is no need for that, visa.ru is fully operational, my Sber visa worked perfectly yesterday, as to future, I cannot say...
Postbank/VTB visa cards also fully operational..

[Markje]

This could also be in the De-dollarisation thread!

https://www.aton.ru/news/izmenenie_komissii_na_pokupku_inostrannoy_valyuty_fizicheskim_litsam/

The headline:

According to the instruction of the Bank of Russia, from 09:00 Moscow time on March 3, 2022, Russian brokers are required to charge a commission when executing orders from individuals to purchase foreign currency - US dollars, euros and pounds sterling - at least 30% of the transaction amount.

[andrewfi]

This could also be in the De-dollarisation thread!

https://www.aton.ru/news/izmenenie_komissii_na_pokupku_inostrannoy_valyuty_fizicheskim_litsam/

The headline:

According to the instruction of the Bank of Russia, from 09:00 Moscow time on March 3, 2022, Russian brokers are required to charge a commission when executing orders from individuals to purchase foreign currency - US dollars, euros and pounds sterling - at least 30% of the transaction amount.

The effect of that is to immediately devalue those foreign currencies by 30%.

By the way, here is a link to an article about crypto in respect of Ukraine, but it would apply to Russia as well, but in a slightly different context.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/ukraine-russia-conflict-showcases-bitcoin

In essence, if sending crypto to help, support, give aid to an organisation or to individuals be very careful. There will be no shortage of people willing to take advantage of the situation to persuade the gullible to send money. The recipients of the funds of the gullible people do not need to be in Ukraine, they can be anywhere. The real recipients could be your next-door neighbours.

I am not suggesting that one should not send money to people or organisations but for sure, there will be plenty of advantage takers. There are plenty of advantage takers and, it always seems to me that the most foolish people are the people who think themselves too smart to be fooled.

[Manny]

Smiley Girl moved into a new apartment and needed a few kopecks
for this and that. Angel Eyes and I have sent money to her twice in
Russia since the war started.

Using what platform, Bill? Your local bank or a third party?

[2tallbill]

Smiley Girl moved into a new apartment and needed a few kopecks
for this and that. Angel Eyes and I have sent money to her twice in
Russia since the war started.

Using what platform, Bill? Your local bank or a third party?

We used Moneygram on the first day and then we used a friend in the
USA who had a Russian bank account who could transfer the money.

 EDIT to add

Angel Eyes says that the Money Gram was just before the beginning.

[Gipsy]

The only foreign card that I can find which is still operating in Russia is Revolut, it worked yesterday for a friend in Moscow..
The problem which one might face would be getting their Visa/MC into Russia, as there are no couriers operating AFAIK..

[Manny]

The problem which one might face would be getting their Visa/MC into Russia, as there are no couriers operating AFAIK..

Royal Mail Tracked & Signed is still working as far as I know. I'll be testing it on Monday.

[Gipsy]

The problem which one might face would be getting their Visa/MC into Russia, as there are no couriers operating AFAIK..

Royal Mail Tracked & Signed is still working as far as I know. I'll be testing it on Monday.

There are no flights, either cargo nor passenger between UK and Russia, how will your letter/package get through??
Remember the masks, how long did that take...??
No wish to pour water on anything..

[Wiz]

Any body has used the Company or know anything about it.

I think they are based in Limassol in Cyprus.?

[andrewfi]

Wiz, which company?

[Wiz]

Any body has used the Company or know anything about it.

I think they are based in Limassol in Cyprus.?

THE Name of the above vompany is:  KoronaPay. and I think this is the link???

https://koronapay.com/transfers/europe/en/

[Manny]

The problem which one might face would be getting their Visa/MC into Russia, as there are no couriers operating AFAIK..

Royal Mail Tracked & Signed is still working as far as I know. I'll be testing it on Monday.

There are no flights, either cargo nor passenger between UK and Russia, how will your letter/package get through??
Remember the masks, how long did that take...??
No wish to pour water on anything..

Royal Mail Business Tracked mail is working fine. We sent the folks some teabags, chocolate and stuff when I posted above just to test it. It arrived yesterday. So it took a tad over three weeks to central Russia. Not bad in the current climate I thought.

I have a system now where we do all our mail online with a business account, and with international, all customs stuff is done in advance online. I find it's much smoother now and things generally are arriving faster.

[Gipsy]

Sdtr send a package today, we will see if it gets through and how long it takes...

[Manny]

Sdtr

Sister? From the US or UK?

[Gipsy]

Sdtr

Sister? From the US or UK?

Step daughter in London...

[Steveboy]

Any body has used the Company or know anything about it.

I think they are based in Limassol in Cyprus.?

THE Name of the above vompany is:  KoronaPay. and I think this is the link???

https://koronapay.com/transfers/europe/en/

We have been using Koronapay for a few weeks sending money from our UK bank card straight to our Russian bank.. very cheap and it is instant ..

They are like some old Soviet style system like "Contact" That is also here.. we use a VPN set at the UK.. use the UK card then transfer straight to Russian card..

BUT it looks like they have taken Russia off as a destination now.. I heard some people cannot use it now.. cos Russia is not included so no way to send.. but it is still ok for us, probably cos we got a account set up with them some time back our cards are already registered and verified.. even sent some more over 45 mins ago no problem..

[Manny]

The specifics of sending money to Russia now I have split off to here.