Visa, Mastercard Block Multiple Russian Financial Institutions Amid Russia-Ukraine Crisis

(RTTNews) - U.S. payment card companies Visa Inc (V) and Mastercard Inc. (MA) have blocked multiple Russian financial institutions from their network in response to sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

"As a result of sanction orders, we have blocked multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network. We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve," Mastercard announced in a statement.

"Given the unfolding emergency, we are also working with our partners to direct funding and humanitarian aid where it can provide the greatest impact," the company added.

Mastercard announced a $2 million contribution to the Red Cross, Save the Children and its employee assistance fund for humanitarian relief.

"Visa is taking prompt action to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions, and is prepared to comply with additional sanctions that may be implemented," Visa said in a statement. The company also announced that it will donate $2 million for humanitarian aid.

The decision to block Russian financial institutions comes after the US and its allies pledged to remove Russian banks from SWIFT, the global financial communications system, among other economic sanctions.

Blocking the service of the world's top payment networks will hurt the the Russian economy further after several other Western sanctions were announced.