Visa, Mastercard suspend operations in Russia
Visa and Mastercard have suspended their operations in Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, the companies said Saturday.
The announcements came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a suspension of Visa and Mastercard transactions in Russia during a Zoom call with U.S. lawmakers Saturday, according to a source on the call.
Visa said in a statement it is working to end all transactions with its clients and partners in Russia "over the coming days," at which point "all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation."
Mastercard said that cards issued by Russian banks "will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network," and those issued outside of the country "will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs."
Visa and Mastercard cards accounted for 74% of payment transactions in Russia in 2020, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this week, American Express announced it had halted relationships with bank partners in Russia impacted by U.S. and international sanctions.