Visa, Mastercard Suspend Operations In Russia

(RTTNews) - Visa Inc (V.N) and Mastercard Inc (MA) on Saturday announced that they are suspending operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Both companies would work with clients and partners to cease all transactions there over the coming days.

With this action, 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, Visa stated.

"We are compelled to act following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed," Al Kelly, chief executive officer of Visa, said in a statement.

Mastercard specified that its cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by Mastercard networks, and that any the company's card issued outside of the Russia will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.

Mastercard noted that it decided to suspend its network services in Russia following its recent action to block multiple Russian financial institutions from the company's payment network, as required by regulators globally.