US payment company Visa Inc. Mastercard Inc. announced that it would suspend operations in Russia. This was done as a sanction for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The two companies will also work closely with their clients and partners to stop all transactions in Russia.
"Within a few days, all transactions, which started with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work overseas and any Visa cards issued outside Russia will no longer work within Russia," said Al Kelly, CEO of Visa, in a statement. a statement quoted by Reuters on Saturday (5/3).
"We were forced to act following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events we have witnessed," Al Kelly continued.
“We regret the impact on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the continuing threats to peace and stability demand that we respond in line with our values," Visa said.
Meanwhile, Mastercard said, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network, and any company cards issued outside of Russia will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.
Mastercard decided to suspend its network services in Russia following recent actions to block several Russian financial institutions from the company's payments network, as required by regulators globally.
Visa added that this week it blocked several Russian financial institutions from its network in accordance with government sanctions imposed over the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier, the Tass news agency reported that Sberbank Rossii PAO SBER.MM, Russia's largest lender, said the sanctions announced by Visa Inc V.N and Mastercard Inc MA.N would not affect users of the cards it issued in Russia.
