Visa, Mastercard suspend operations in Russia over Ukraine invasion

[peppertree]

Source: Reuters

U.S. payments firms Visa Inc (V.N) and Mastercard Inc on Saturday said they were suspending operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, and that they would work with clients and partners to cease all transactions there.

Within days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside of Russia will no longer work within the country, the company said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, in a call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, welcomed Visa's and Mastercard's decisions to suspend their operations in Russia, the White House said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/visa-suspends-operations-russia-over-ukraine-invasion-2022-03-05/

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Visa: It's everywhere you want to be - and nowhere you don't.

[BadgerKid]

1. PayPal is down apparently

PayPal shuts down its services in Russia citing Ukraine aggression
https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-services-russia-citing-ukraine-aggression-2022-03-05/


And then there's the other personal services, but YMMV:

MC: So even if I can't easily send money from one bank account to another. What if I want to use a popular person-to person-payment app, something like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, Square Cash, PayPal. Do those apps still work in Russia?

RR: Well, depending on if those companies have shut down their operations in Russia, the answer's either yes or no. If yes, then no, you can't use them. I'm pretty sure that earlier this week, Apple shut down its activities in Russia. Which means Apple Pay, you're not going to be able to use that to get funds out of your bank.

I think it's important, though, to note, there are workarounds to this. Major banks that are cut off from the Swift system, they can use other systems, like the SPFS system, which was established by the Russian central bank after the 2014 invasion of Crimea, or the CIPS Network. This was created by the People's Bank of China.

And I think it's worth noting the international payments to Gazprom, for Russian oil and gas, aren't made via Swift. So there's definitely workarounds here, but they're not as secure, they're slower, and they cost more. There's also not as much of a reach. Right? The Chinese system, for example, is a lot smaller. There's only about 1,300 financial institutions participating, and most of them indirectly.

https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-540/

[peppertree]

2. No peace, no pay

[orangecrush]

3. Don't leave

Russia without it!

[peppertree]

4. "First time I go to American store, I ask them if I need my Visa..."

"And they tell me: not if you have MasterCard!"

[LiberatedUSA]

6. As a kid, I enjoyed his appearances on Night Court. N/t

[peppertree]

8. He was a hoot.

Sorry I missed your reply; I've been posting a lot these last few days.

Smirnoff's rise to fame, as you'll recall, coincided with Gorbachev and Glasnost - and thus, he probably contributed to the improved relations between the superpowers at the time.

Sadly, of course, they're now worse than ever thanks to Bad Vlad (and to a lesser extent NATO - let's not kid ourselves).

Smirnoff himself must be in a lot of emotional pain - seeing as he was born in Odesa, Ukraine (Jewish Ukrainian). No doubt, he has relatives in the middle of all this.

Peace.

[msongs]

5. still useable in russia if issued in russia. only a partial shut down then nt

[IronLionZion]

7. When Russia visits you