All Moldovan banks have stopped working with the Russian money transfer system “Zolotaya Korona” today, September 6, the last available method for transferring money between Russia and Moldova.
Last week the system was still working at Comertbank, Fincombank, Eurocreditbank and Energbank, but now it is no longer possible to make transfers through it. Eurocreditbank’s website reports that money transfers have been suspended “due to necessary operational adjustments.” The banking institution says it is “making every effort to resume this service as soon as possible.”
This decision coincided with the introduction of new US sanctions against several Russian companies, including the developer of the Zolotaya Korona system, the Center for Financial Technologies. Now transfers between Russia and Moldova via SWIFT are only possible with high fees, and the use of cryptocurrencies remains a complex and technically challenging option.
The Golden Crown was the only Russian money transfer system still operating in Moldova. Transfers via Unistream stopped working in this direction in the summer of 2023, and via Contact – in February this year. In addition, bank cards of the Russian payment system “Mir” are not accepted on the territory of Moldova.
Meanwhile, in Transnistria, the Unistream system and Mir cards continue to operate through local banks, being one of the few available ways to transfer money from Russia. Residents of Gagauzia take advantage of this opportunity.
Let us remember that the person responsible for autonomy Evgenia Gutsul The Russian government has agreed with Promsvyazbank on extra-budgetary financial assistance to the region, which is suffering from economic pressure from the central authorities. Now local state employees and pensioners, who number about 25 thousand people, can remotely open accounts in a Russian bank and receive a monthly bonus of 2 thousand lei (approximately 10.5 thousand rubles) on the Mir card. Then the Prosecutor General of Moldova Ion Munteanu The ISS warned that security services are taking measures “to block the origin of this money” because, according to Chisinau, it is used to “illegally finance the opposition.” In turn, the ISS stated that the Russian Promsvyazbank represents a “particular danger to state security and seriously affects the national goals of European integration.” After which the site and applications were blocked.
As reported EADaily In May, Moldova stopped accepting money transfers from Russia via the online system Zolotaya Korona, i.e. from a Russian bank card to the Republic of Moldova. From that moment on, it was only possible to transfer cash from Russia to Moldova.
According to official data, the Moldovan diaspora in Russia numbers about 200 thousand people (according to unofficial data, about 250 thousand). They regularly send money home, providing foreign currency to the country’s banks.
