INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Card payment giants Visa and Mastercard announced Saturday they will suspend operations in Russia, the latest major United States firms to
uncertain economic environment," Mastercard said it had "decided to suspend our network services in Russia."Visa, for its part, said that
"effective immediately" it would "work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming
days."United States President Joe Biden "welcomed the decision" during a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in
which the two discussed United States , ally and private industry actions to deter Russia from aggression, according to a White House
readout.Major corporations across a range of industries have halted business in Russia since its invasion began on Feb
24, including everything from United States -based tech firms such as Intel and Airbnb to French luxury giants LVMH, Hermes and Chanel.Visa
and Mastercard had already announced that they were complying with United States and international sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake
of its attack."Our colleagues, our customers and our partners have been affected in ways that most of us could not imagine," Mastercard
said, stating that its cards issued by Russian banks would no longer be supported by the company's network.Visa similarly said that cards
issued in Russia would no longer work outside the country.Both companies said cards issued abroad would no longer work in Russia.Russian
have witnessed," Visa CEO Al Kelly said.Russia's major banks, including its largest lender Sberbank and the Russia Central Bank,
downplayed the effects that the cards' suspensions would have on their clients."All Visa and Mastercard bank cards issued by Russian banks
will continue to operate normally on Russian territory until their expiration date," the Russia Central Bank said.Sberbank said in a
transfers using the card number, and for payment at offline as well as at online Russian stores."The cards would continue to work on Russian
territory, it said, because all payments in Russia are made through a national system and do not depend on foreign systems.However, the
central bank warned that Russians traveling abroad should carry alternate means of payment.Mastercard added that it would continue to
provide pay and benefits to its nearly 200 employees in Russia.Visa's and Mastercard's announcements came hours after PayPal also halted
its services in Russia.Ukrainian deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted a letter early Saturday from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman
officially announcing the stop."Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia," Schulman said in the
letter.He added that PayPal would continue to support its staff in the region and would focus on "enabling our customers and our global
