Visa and Mastercard Suspended Operations in Russia

Visa and Mastercard, the two giants that control more than 75 percent of the global credit card market, have suspended their operations in Russia.

Visa and Mastercard announced that they have decided to cease all operations in Russia. In a statement, Visa said, "Visa will work with its customers and partners in Russia to stop all Visa transactions in the coming days." Accordingly, Visa cards issued in Russia will not work outside the country, and Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside Russia will not work in Russia. Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said, "After Russia's unreasonable invasion of Ukraine and the unacceptable events we witnessed, we had to act. We regret the impact this will have on the customers, business partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia." In the statement made by Mastercard, the following statements were used: “For more than a week, the world has witnessed the shocking and devastating events resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. […] With all this in mind, we have made the decision to suspend our network services in Russia. Thus, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network. Any Mastercard issued abroad will not work in stores or ATMs in Russia."