Russian Banking and Metro Payment Outage Disrupts Cards, ATMs, and Mobile Apps

A widespread outage disrupted banking apps and payment systems across Russia, leaving customers unable to make card payments, withdraw cash, or access mobile banking for several hours. Major banks including Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, T-Bank, and Gazprombank were affected, while payment failures also hit public transport in Moscow, where metro and suburban train turnstiles reportedly stopped accepting cards.

Russian authorities said the incident was caused by a technical failure at one bank and insisted customer funds were not affected, but the exact cause was not publicly confirmed. Russian media and local experts pointed to a problem at Sberbank that may have cascaded across the financial sector because of its central role in acquiring, while other reports tied the disruption to Roskomnadzor internet-blocking activity and the government’s broader campaign against VPN services; independent media later said outlets were ordered to remove reporting that linked the outage to VPN restrictions.