Payments

Visa, Mastercard block Russian banks

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March 1, 2022

Visa and Mastercard have officially blocked multiple financial institutions within Russia that are listed on the U.S.'s sanctions list. The payments companies have also both pledged $2 million towards humanitarian relief in Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion, according to a report by CNBC.

These companies are the latest to join in on sanctions against Russia, as the U.S., Canada and various European allies recently agreed to remove major Russian banks from SWIFT, an interbank messaging system. By removing the banks from SWIFT, they will be unable to send secure messages to banks in other countries.

"We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve," Mastercard said in a statement.

Visa in turn said it was, "taking prompt action to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions, and are prepared to comply with additional sanctions that may be implemented."

As a result of these actions, the Russian ruble has plunged to a value of barely one cent. Mykhailo Federov, vice prime minster of Ukraine has also called on major cryptocurrency exchanges to block addresses of Russian users to prevent them from trying to get around sanctions with cryptocurrency.