Russian businesses have recently been reported to be refusing to accept credit cards as payment due to the global financial crisis. Among the types of merchants denying credit cards as a form of payment are restaurants, state banks and airlines such as Aeroflot. In particular, many merchants will only accept payment from specific merchant banks that are highly unlikey to fail like US banks in recent months.
The International Monetary Fund is serving in a similar way like the US government did in its recent $700 Billion bailout package - to provide liquidity and loans to support ailing countries affected by the global credit situation.
The IMF has loaned over $16 Billion to the Ukraine, $2 Billion to Iceland and an unspecified amount to Hungary.