Cards issued in Russia will only be active in the country. Thus, foreigners will also no longer be able to use their cards in Russia.
US payment card specialists Visa and Mastercard announced on Saturday that they would suspend their operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
In the coming days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country, and all Visa cards issued outside of Russia will no longer work in the country, the company said.
“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.
Mastercard clarified that cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network, and cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work with Russian distributors and merchants.
Russian bank Sberbank, the country’s largest bank, said the sanctions announced by Visa and Mastercard would not affect users of cards it issues in Russia, Russian news agency TASS reported.