Moscow payment system problem causes chaos

A significant disruption in payment systems caused widespread chaos for Moscow shoppers and travelers on Friday. The technical failure forced the Moscow metro to allow passengers to enter without payment and led a local zoo to revert to cash-only transactions. Reports suggest the problem affected Sberbank, Russia's largest financial institution, and QR code payment systems. The outage, which lasted about an hour, prompted shops and petrol stations to request cash from customers, highlighting the reliance on digital payment infrastructure.