This is due to the company's fears of falling under secondary sanctions.
UnionPay payment system cards are no longer accepted in Russia, because the company has limited its work with Russian acquiring banks that have fallen under sanctions. This was reported by RBC, citing a source in a major bank.
Thus, if the POS-terminal in the outlet belongs to a bank from the sanctions list, it will not be possible to pay by card. The source believes that this is due to the company's fear of falling under the secondary sanctions.
The source specified that the cards stopped working in spring, after the sanctions were imposed. In Russia, it went unnoticed due to the low popularity of the payment system. It is the main for the Chinese coming to Russia, but they can also pay through WeChat.
"The Chinese payment system on its own initiative has limited partnerships with sanctioned banks in terms of acquiring and issuing cards," said a source in the payment market.