MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has signed a law which bans money transfers to Ukraine via foreign payment systems. The document has been published on the official Internet portal of legal information of the Russian government.

The amendments to the Law on the National Payment System stipulate that if a foreign state introduces a ban regarding payment systems, the operators of which are registered with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in this case cross-border transfers can only be made through an operator controlled by a Russian legal entity.

When the Federation Council (upper chamber of the Russian parliament) considered this document the senators stressed that these norms are a response to the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, which actually banned the operation of Russian payment systems on their territory.

According to the documents attached to the law, the restrictions concern only to transfers, which are conducted without opening a bank account.

The law will come into effect 30 days after the official publication.

In October 2016, the Ukrainian authorities imposed sanctions on Russian payment systems Golden Crown, Kolibri (Sberbank), Leader, Unistream, Anelik and Blizko.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) sent out telegrams to participants of Russian payment systems regarding the termination of operations with these systems, and also obliged banks to return their certificates on registration in Russian payment systems to the regulator.