MOSCOW, January 16 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Russian national Alexander Moskovkin against MasterCard, which blocked his card after the US imposed sanctions on Russian officials and several Russian banks over the situation in Ukraine, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Alexander Moskovkin, deputy CEO at LEXPRO Software Development, filed a lawsuit to collect 510 rubles ($8) from MasterCard, including 100 rubles in moral damages and 410 rubles in pecuniary damages.

The plaintiff said he suffered damages due to his card being blocked, a card that was issued by SMP Bank that was included in US sanctions. Moskovkin said he could not use the card to make planned purchases in late March.

Moscow's Meshchansky District Court dismissed Moskovkin’s lawsuit on October 15, 2014. Moskovkin appealed this ruling.  This was the first such lawsuit filed against a US credit card system.

Last March, Visa and MasterCard blocked credit card services to the customers of Rossiya Bank, its subsidiary Sobinbank, InvestCapitalBank and SMP Bank as a result of US sanctions over Crimea. In response, Russia decided to create a national card payment system that would be controlled by the Central Bank of Russia.