But Do They Call It Moscow Express Card?

Stuck in Moscow’s Red Square without a red cent?

Keep your shirt on comrade.

American Express Co. announced Thursday that it has been granted permission to operate the first-ever cash-dispensing automated teller machines in the Soviet Union.

Two American Express ATMs will be installed by September in central locations in Moscow, providing American Express card members with 24-hour access to the company’s dollar travelers checks or Russian rubles, the company said.

American Express said the ATM agreement was the result of two years of negotiating with the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the U.S.S.R., a central bank for foreign interests that operates 18 retail branches in the Soviet Union and already offers some American Express financial services.

The Soviet bank will be responsible for daily business transactions while it will act as a consultant, American Express said.

“The appeal of the U.S.S.R. as a tourist destination is rising and . . . there are exciting changes afoot within the country,” said American Express President Louis V. Gerstner Jr.

Juergen Aumueller, president of American Express travel-related services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the joint venture “confirms the current favorable climate of East-West cooperative business arrangements.”

The Soviet Union has been slowly expanding in the business world after years of centralized bureaucratic controls over banking and finance that have been partly blamed for economic stagnation in recent years.

It was only last December that citizens were permitted to open checking accounts at banks. And just three months ago Visa International said it was given sole permission to issue credit cards to foreign residents and Soviet citizens who travel abroad.

Many prominent Soviet citizens, though, have held credit cards for a number of years, including Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa, who reportedly carries an American Express card when she travels abroad.