Russia's central bank vowed last week to expand the number of countries that accept its Mir cards, despite new U.S. sanctions targeting people and entities accused of helping Moscow skirt financial sanctions.

Denizbank and İşbank, two private lenders in Türkiye, a leading destination for Russian travelers < wipes tears >, suspended the use of Mir after Washington included NSPK head Vladimir Komlev in its sanctions program, imposed in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

But Komlev told a banking forum in Kazan: "We are not considering the option of completely abandoning the use of Mir cards abroad ... The level of concern and noise ... is quite over the top."

"The Americans have always said that sanctions apply to those areas of financial activity where the dollar is involved. The Mir card does not use the dollar and it is does not fall under U.S. sanctions policy by any criteria.

"The U.S. has not even imposed sanctions on Mir cards ... but we see that countries friendly to us are abandoning this instrument that we were planning to develop," [VTB Bank CEO Andrei Kostin]said, referring to Türkiye, Vietnam[,] and Kazakhstan.

Beyond Türkiye, the cards are currently only accepted in a few countries such as Cuba, South Korea, Vietnam[,] and a handful of former Soviet republics.