Russians in the EU reported inability to top up Revolut accounts from cards of CIS banks

Russians living in the EU have started to report that they are unable to fund their Revolut accounts from the cards of banks in CIS countries - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Oninvest became aware of five such cases. In all cases, the scenario was the same: clients received Revolut's refusal to transfer money with the explanation that "the top-up card is no longer supported".

Revolut's support service explained to Russian clients contacted by Oninvest that from December 1, 2025, the neobank cannot process top-up transactions from cards issued in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan for users residing in the EU. The bank also clarified that this problem is not temporary: "any similar future transactions" will not be carried out.

None of the banks from whose cards users tried to make the transfer are under sanctions.

As justification for the refusal to transfer, Revolut referred to its own Terms and Conditions and the changed compliance policy of international payment systems, which Revolut is obliged to follow. According to them, some countries have been categorized by international payment systems as high risk for card top-up transactions. From the communication of clients with Revolut support service (Oninvest has familiarized itself with the screenshots of these conversations) it follows that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan were among such countries.

"This is not a decision that Revolut made on its own, but a necessary compliance with the requirements of our payment processing partners," Revolut's support team told one of Oninvest's interlocutors.

Users were also unable to top up their Revolut accounts from the mobile applications of CIS banks: the banking applications generated an error when attempting to make a transaction.

One customer was told by Revolut's support team that only card-to-card deposits are currently not possible, but other mechanics work. For example, topping up Revolut accounts via Apple Pay and Google Pay e-wallets and international bank transfers.

Two Revolut clients living in France received a letter from Neobank in which Revolut notified them that they could not credit their accounts with cards issued by banks from 52 countries. In particular, we are talking about the countries of mass relocation of Russians after 2022: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, UAE, Serbia, Israel. The ban also applies to banks of popular resort destinations - Thailand, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. In addition, the list of countries includes Monaco.

Oninvest has sent requests to Revolut, Mastercard and Visa.

After the adoption of the 19th package of EU sanctions, Russians legally living in the European Union began to face new restrictions in the field of financial services. In particular, it introduced a ban for European banks on payments, acquiring and transactions with electronic money and crypto-assets for citizens of Russia and Belarus, as well as companies from these countries.

However, in the preamble of the acts imposing restrictions on the provision of payment services, the EU Council indicated that "payment transactions" are not prohibited, lawyers specializing in financial compliance and sanctions law explained to Oninvest. In addition, the sanctions norms do not apply to holders of EU passports, European temporary or permanent residence permits, the document said.

Revolut is one of the key EU banks for citizens of Xi and Belarus, which until now opened accounts and issued cards to them on the basis of not only European residence permits, but also national D visas, as well as asylum or temporary protection documents in the EU. Its clients were the first to feel the new restrictions. On the night of November 1, citizens of these countries received letters in which the bank demanded to update the documents confirming the legality of stay in the European Union, the European Economic Area or Switzerland. A few minutes later, many customers received another message from the bank - a ban on depositing and withdrawing money from their accounts at ATMs, paying for goods and services by card or sending money transfers to other Revolut accounts. Subsequently, some customers were able to unblock their accounts or obtain a longer period of time to provide supporting documents.

Another important payment service Wise has announced the temporary blocking of cards for Russian and Belarusian passport holders. To unblock, customers will have to confirm citizenship of the European Union or Switzerland or residence in them.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor