RUSSIA’S NEW SOFT POWER: THE MIR CARD SYSTEM

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Gabriella Gricius

Abstract

After the onset of Western sanctions in 2014, the Russian National Card Payment System (NSPK) and its corresponding Mir bank cards launched the following year. Five years later, estimates show that 56 million people are using Mir cards, more than 20 percent of Russia’s bank card market and will be operational in twelve foreign countries. Traditionally, scholars have examined Russian soft power as aiming to integrate post-Soviet countries with Russia and Central Asian countries through promoting beneficial economic and cultural relationships. With the Mir card system, Russia is seeking primarily to become less dependent on a dollar-dominated financial system, as well as to avoid potentially increasing US sanctions and to overarchingly seek to build a multipolar system. This research will investigate the Mir card system.

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How to Cite
Gricius , Gabriella. 2020. “RUSSIA’S NEW SOFT POWER: THE MIR CARD SYSTEM”. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs 6 (2):32-44. https://doi.org/10.47305/JLIA2020032g .
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Author Biography

Gabriella Gricius , Colorado State University, USA

Gabriella Gricius is a doctoral student in Political Science at Colorado State University and Director of Research with The International Scholar. Previously, she was a Senior Research Associate for the Public International Law and Policy Group in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She received her Masters degree in International Security from the University of Groningen. Her interests are focused on the intersection of conflict studies, great power politics, and security studies in Russia and Eastern Europe. She is also a freelance journalist and has published in Foreign Policy, Bear Market Brief, Global Security Review, and Riddle Russia as well as the academic journals The Asian Journal of Peacebuilding and Sicherheit & Frieden as well as various other journals.