Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed regret over the decision by a number of companies to limit the operation of their payment-processing systems in Russia.
"It is a great pity that several companies have made a decision about well-known restrictions, I think this will simply lead to them losing certain segments of the market, quite a profitable one," Putin said at a meeting with members of the Federation Council's house council.
"This is not our decision, we must protect our interests and we shall do this (create a national payment-processing system)," the Russian president added.
MasterCard and Visa have restarted processing transactions made by cardholders at banks controlled by the Rotenberg brothers after it became clear that sanctions imposed on the banks by the U.S. were in fact illegal.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said Russia should have its own credit-rating agencies that would show an objective picture.
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