“There are several countries that would like to cooperate with us. For example, Cuba is one of the latest projects we are currently working on. That is, our citizens could use the Mir card in Cuba,” Skorobogatova stressed at a working meeting of the State Duma (Lower House of Parliament).

The official pointed out that there are two other countries with which Moscow is making progress in negotiations, but she did not mention their names, although she said that they are countries to which Russian tourists travel a lot.

The Mir cards are currently accepted in Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Juan Carlos Escalona, Tourism adviser at the Cuban Embassy in Russia, stressed that the use of these payment cards in the Caribbean nation is an important step to reopen tourism in Cuba. jg/iff/jf/mml