Visa and Mastercard announced to suspend their operations in Russia this Saturday. Russian bank cards will therefore no longer work abroad, and cards issued abroad will no longer work in Russia.
“Due to the unprecedented nature of the current conflict and the uncertain economic environment, we have decided to suspend our service network in Russia,” Mastercard said in a statement, however ensuring that it continues to pay the 200 employees of the firm who work in Russia.
For its part, Visa indicated the same day that it “will work with its customers and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions in the coming days”. “We are compelled to act in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we have witnessed,” Visa CEO Al Kelly said in a statement. communicated.
Merger with the Chinese network Unionpay
Cards issued in Russia will however continue to operate in the country, assured the Central Bank of Russia, since the transactions are managed by the national banking system which is therefore not subject to international sanctions. However, the central bank has recommended that Russians traveling abroad bring cash or the Russian Mir bank card to the few countries or territories where it is still accepted.
This Sunday, several Russian banks announced that they are working with the Chinese UnionPay network so that Russians can have credit cards that work abroad, and thus circumvent Visa and Mastercard sanctions. “We are already working on issuing UnionPay cards, China’s national payment system. With this card, one can make payments in 180 countries of the world”, specified Alfa Bank, one of the largest private banks of Russia.
This new decision by the two global banking card giants comes on top of a whole arsenal of economic sanctions taken by the international community against Russia. Some of the largest Russian banks have notably been cut off from the Swift international interbank system, limiting their ability to transact with foreign countries. The national currency, the rouble, collapsed as a result.