Visa and Mastercard, which operate the same payment card network around the world, have decided to end their operations in Russia. This is because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. PayPal is also closing down.
“Following the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we have witnessed, we are compelled to act,” Al Kelly, Visa’s chief executive, said in a statement. The latter, along with Mastercard, will cease operations in Russia within days, meaning their cards issued by Russian banks will stop working.
But Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, came out with a statement saying that the halt in operations by Visa and Mastercard will not affect the Russian population because banks there can service card transactions through their domestic payment card system. The latter is not dependent on the international payment system, according to Tass.
Sberbank, along with two other Russian banks, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff, are looking for a way to connect Russia‘s Mir payment system to China’s UnionPay payment network, according to Reuters. This is supposed to be a response to Visa and Mastercard’s announcement. Payment company PayPal will also cease operations in Russia.
