...The special position of dollar as reserve currency confers certain very important trade, financial and political advantages to the USA. In a widely discussed paper titled `An Existential Threat to the US Dollar' the authors Daniel Tenengauzer, John Vellis and Geoff Yu ( BNY-MECCON--Aerial View Magazine, September 2020) say, " The status of the USD allows the US, as its issuer, to run huge international deficits in its own currency, and has allowed international liabilities to be paid off at a lower rate of interest than the US receives in income from abroad." Clearly it is a huge advantage to clear international payments in its own currency. As such the USA authorities would like this arrangement to continue for as long as possible.

However this excessive power should not be used in arbitrary ways and to inflict undue and high costs on others, as in the case of imposing sweeping sanctions. In the case if Iraq, which had been earlier devastated by an invasion led by the USA, these sanctions are reported to have led to around half a million deaths. This was followed by a second invasion as well. ...

The twin suspensions were announced within 16 minutes of each other, and they followed a private video call earlier in the day between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and US lawmakers. During that conversation, Zelenskyy "asked us to turn off MasterCard and Visa for Russia," Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California [US Congressional Ukraine Caucus], tweeted. "I agree," he added, before Mastercard and Visa made their announcements.
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The moves by Mastercard and Visa could make real differences to their bottom lines. Russia accounted for 4 percent of all of Visa's net revenue in its last fiscal year, including money made from domestic and cross-border activities. Ukraine accounted for about 1 percent, Visa said in a filing with US securities regulators this week.

Mastercard said in its own filing that about 4 percent of its net revenues during 2021 came from business conducted within, into and out of Russia. Another roughly 2 percent was related to Ukraine.

Nikhil Reddy, payments senior analyst at GlobalData, says: "This will have a significant impact on the Russian card payments market resulting in reduced e-commerce and POS [point-of-sale] transactions. Even digital payment solutions like Apple Pay and Google Pay have barred cardholders of the sanction hit Russian banks from using their services."

While major economies have isolated Russia, China has kept its door open, encouraging Russia to use its payment system called Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) for international trade as a substitute for SWIFT, by connecting it with Russia's payment system - the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).
[...]
As a result, he says Russia is strategically promoting the adoption of Mir via government mandates. It has passed mandates requiring public sector employees receiving state funds and welfare benefits to migrate to Mir payment cards. A similar mandate was imposed on pensioners, making pensions accessible only through Mir bank cards.