American card and payment companies Visa and MasterCard have decided to suspend all their operations in Russia behind the invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic uncertainty that the economic sanctions imposed by many countries around the world have caused in the country.
Both companies have announced it in separate communications explaining that your cards will no longer work for purchases from outside the countryand that the cards issued by Russian banks of these two companies will stop operating in Russian shops and ATMs.
“Effective immediately, Visa will work with its customers and partners within Russia to suspend all Visa transactions in the coming days. Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation,” the Visa statement explained.
“We are forced to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we have witnessed”said Al Kelly, Visa’s chairman and CEO. “This war and the constant threat to peace and stability demand that we respond in accordance with our values,” he said.
For its part, Mastercard has appealed to “the unprecedented nature of the current conflict and the uncertain economic environment” to justify its decision to suspend its network services in Russia.
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“This decision stems from our recent action of blocking multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment networkas required by regulators worldwide,” the company said in a statement.
With this measure, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be compatible with the Visa and Mastercard networks. In addition, any card from both companies issued outside the country will not work at Russian ATMs or merchants.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.