Cards of the UnionPay system from the PRC issued by Gazprombank have ceased working or have significant payment issues in eight countries. Citizens of the PRC, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Germany, Thailand, Hungary, the UAE, and Turkey have already experienced problems with these cards.
For example, ATMs of both private and state banks do not provide Turkish holders of UnionPay cards with any money, notifying them of technical problems. Holders of the UnionPay cards from the UAE see a message, according to which the card is either inactive or blocked. The cards of the UnionPay system are no longer processed at ATMs of Qatar, while ATMs of Thailand return these cards with messages about an incorrect operation when customers try to withdraw their money by using them.
Furthermore, the UnionPay cards issued by Gazprombank do not work at Hungarian ATMs, showing clients a refusal warning, while German ATMs of Deutsche Bank and Sparkasse do not process these cards, displaying a message regarding an improper transaction. Clients of Gazprombank cannot withdraw their money at ICBC ATMs in the PRC. Moreover, customers of Kazakhstan began experiencing problems with UnionPay cards on November 22.
All these issues indicate that the sanctions imposed by the US on Gazprombank are effective. However, other countries, for instance the EU and its allies, should take additional decisive measures to cut any ties with the Russian Federation and undermine its capability to continue waging a war against Ukraine.
