Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, in the latest blow to the country’s financial system after its invasion of Ukraine.
Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs.
“We don’t take this decision lightly,” Mastercard said in a statement, adding that it made the move after discussions with customers, partners and governments.
Visa said it’s working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days.
“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed,” Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said in a statement.
The twin suspensions were announced within 16 minutes of each other, and they followed a private video call earlier in the day between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and U.S. lawmakers. During that conversation, Zelenskyy “asked us to turn off MasterCard and Visa for Russia,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, tweeted. “I agree,” he added, before Mastercard and Visa made their announcements.
Earlier in the week, Visa and Mastercard had announced more limited moves to block financial institutions from the networks that serve as arteries for the payments system. Russian people have already been hit hard by heavy sanctions and financial penalties imposed by the U.S. government and others.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the value of the Russian currency, the ruble, has plunged by more than a third to a record low. That’s pushing up inflation for Russian households, and all the fear has helped cause long lines at ATMs.
Many other companies around the world have also made moves to increase the financial pressure on Russia and its people because of its attack on Ukraine. Some are selling their stakes in Russian companies, such as energy giant BP, while others like Harley-Davidson halted product shipments to the country.
“This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values,” Visa’s Kelly said.
The moves by Mastercard and Visa could make real differences to their bottom lines. Russia accounted for 4% of all of Visa’s net revenue in its last fiscal year, including money made from domestic and cross-border activities. Ukraine accounted for about 1%, Visa said in a filing with U.S. securities regulators this week.
Mastercard said in its own filing that about 4% of its net revenues during 2021 came from business conducted within, into and out of Russia. Another roughly 2% was related to Ukraine.
The price of Brent crude on Wednesday exceeded $110, its highest price since 2014 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raged on and international sanctions against Moscow began to bite.
Fears of a global oil supply crisis following Russia’s military assault on Ukraine prompted Ryanair director Michael O’Leary to urge western nations to ramp up the production of oil at tame soaring prices.
Brent crude on Wednesday was trading at $111.59 on the London futures market, a 6.3% increase on Tuesday figures.
United States President Joe Biden promised Tuesday that he will “save democracy” from the challenges faced inside and outside the country, and that his Russian counterpart will “pay” for his invasion of Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine was the focus of part of Biden’s first State of the Union address, in which he announced his decision to close US airspace to Russian flights, as Canada and the European Union have done.
“[Russian president Vladimir] Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been,” the president said before lawmakers from both houses of US Congress.
“[He] has unleashed violence and chaos. But while he may make gains on the battlefield, he will pay a continuing high price over the long run.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, Chinese social media, usually a controlled space, is rife with conflicting comments about Ukraine. Censors have deleted thousands of posts — many containing vulgar sexual remarks about Ukrainian women — along with the accounts from which they originated.
A wide variety of comments are emerging hourly on the chatting platform WeChat; the Douyin video app, or Chinese TikTok; and Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.
Some social media users are asking the Chinese government to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the Ukrainian crisis to seize Taiwan. China regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province, even though it has its own flag, currency, military and democratic institutions. The Chinese government has said it is ready to bring about a reunification with Taiwan, even if force is required.
Chinese social media is also witnessing an outpouring of support for Russia and criticism of the U.S. over its support for Ukraine. A small number of people are asking why Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to interfere in the affairs of another country by urging Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine to revolt against their local governments.
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022. (Sputnik/Aleksey Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters)
Significantly, some commenters are asking why the Chinese government did not stand by its ally Russia during a recent United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. China, India and United Arab Emirates chose to abstain from voting, a neutral stance.
Commenters have also ridiculed Ukraine for supposedly letting the U.S. make decisions for it.
China’s motives questioned
Along with the posts that are vulgar or praise violence, the Chinese censors have been removing expressions of anti-war sentiment, including an open letter circulated by several academicians calling for an end to the war.
“It is not an easy situation for the government. It cannot support the war. But it is also uncomfortable about intense parading of anti-war sentiment because this has implications on the political situation in Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong,” said a Chinese university professor who asked not to be named.
FILE – A man reads the Chinese state-run newspaper with coverage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, on a street in Beijing, Feb. 24, 2022.
The state-controlled Global Times suggested in its Chinese-language edition that anti-Beijing separatists are behind some of the anti-war postings. “Some people surmise that clandestine ‘Taiwan separatists,’ ‘Hong Kong separatists’ and other forces are the ones making waves in public sentiment and public discourse on the Ukraine situation,” wrote Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts.
Yet the country’s internet censor, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), initially stayed on the sidelines of the debate, allowing some posts questioning Moscow’s policy to remain up. This reflects a wider dilemma for Chinese authorities as their ally, Russia, supports and endorses a separatist movement in eastern Ukraine while carrying out an unprovoked attack on a neighbor.
“China overall is following events but not taking a clear stand, and why should it? For China this war is a lose-lose proposition,” said Francesco Sisci, a senior research associate at Renmin University of China in Beijing.
“If Russia wins, it gets stronger, and China will feel the weight again of the northern neighbor. If it loses, China will be more isolated,” Sisci told VOA. “Plus, it didn’t trust Russia to begin with. Still, China’s official stand is strongly anti-American, and [as seen] from Beijing, this war was set up by the U.S., which pushed Russia around.”
FILE – People walk past an office of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in Beijing, China, July 8, 2021.
Nevertheless, the CAC and social media platforms have weeded out thousands of postings containing objectionable comments and videos. The agency said it was cracking down on “self-media” — social media accounts held by independent content producers who share irresponsible political ideas. It also said it wants to control the distribution of information across all internet platforms to end “disruption to the order of internet broadcasts.”
Douyin said it had removed 3,500 videos and 12,100 comments related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is investigating objectionable posts, such as those calling for the “capture of beautiful Ukrainian women,” spreading inappropriate values, and harming the platform’s atmosphere.
Backlash in Ukraine
Other postings suggest the Chinese government’s posture has prompted anger toward Chinese students studying in Ukraine. Several of them have cited hostility from local residents and expressed concern for their safety.
The Chinese flag is put on the fence of the Chinese embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.
The Chinese Embassy in Kyiv initially asked its citizens to clearly identify their nationality while traveling in Ukraine. It later changed the order to say that they should stay indoors and not identify their nationality until further instructions are issued.
“The Ukrainians are going through difficulties. … We need to understand them and not provoke them,” the embassy told Chinese citizens in Ukraine.
The official Xinhua News Agency also joined the government in urging social media users to “discuss and present in a reasonable way” and criticized those who “spoke inappropriately.”
Republican Governor Kim Reynolds of the midwestern U.S. state of Iowa laid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine squarely at the feet of President Joe Biden and his approach to foreign policy.
In the official Republican response to the Democratic president’s State of the Union address, Governor Reynolds offered a list of what she described as the administration’s foreign policy failures, including last year’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which she said not only “cost American lives,” but “betrayed our allies and emboldened our enemies.”
Reynolds suggested Biden allowed the Ukraine invasion to occur by waiving sanctions on Russian pipelines while eliminating domestic oil production. She concluded that Biden and congressional Democrats were too busy “focusing on political correctness rather than military readiness.”
“Weakness on the world stage has a cost,” Reynolds said. “And the president’s approach to foreign policy has consistently been too little, too late.”
Turning her attention to the U.S. economy, the first-term governor said Biden and congressional Democrats have spent the last year “either ignoring issues facing Americans or making them worse,” specifically inflation. Reynolds said the administration was warned that “spending trillions of dollars would lead to soaring inflation, and were told that anti-energy policies would send gas prices to new heights.”
She also boasted of the approach taken by her and other Republican governors in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This included opposing coronavirus restrictions such as vaccine and mask mandates, especially those in public schools.
She said keeping schools open is just the start of a “pro-parent, pro-family revolution” that includes banning the teaching of so-called critical race theory, which conservatives contend could further divide Americans and worsen race relations.
“Americans are tired of a political class trying to remake this country into a place where an elite view tells everyone else what they can and cannot say, what they can and cannot believe,” Reynolds said. “They’re tired of people pretending the way to erase racism is by categorizing everybody by their race.”
The 62-year-old Reynolds began her political career as the elected treasurer of a rural county, serving four terms in that office before her election to the Iowa state Senate in 2008. She was elevated to the post of lieutenant governor two years later as the running mate of Governor Terry Branstad, succeeding him in 2017 when he was confirmed as then-President Donald Trump’s choice as ambassador to China.
Republican Governor Kim Reynolds of the midwestern U.S. state of Iowa laid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine squarely at the feet of President Joe Biden and his approach to foreign policy.
In the official Republican response to the Democratic president’s State of the Union address, Governor Reynolds offered a list of what she described as the administration’s foreign policy failures, including last year’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which she said not only “cost American lives,” but “betrayed our allies and emboldened our enemies.”
Reynolds suggested Biden allowed the Ukraine invasion to occur by waiving sanctions on Russian pipelines while eliminating domestic oil production. She concluded that Biden and congressional Democrats were too busy “focusing on political correctness rather than military readiness.”
“Weakness on the world stage has a cost,” Reynolds said. “And the president’s approach to foreign policy has consistently been too little, too late.”
Turning her attention to the U.S. economy, the first-term governor said Biden and congressional Democrats have spent the last year “either ignoring issues facing Americans or making them worse,” specifically inflation. Reynolds said the administration was warned that “spending trillions of dollars would lead to soaring inflation, and were told that anti-energy policies would send gas prices to new heights.”
She also boasted of the approach taken by her and other Republican governors in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This included opposing coronavirus restrictions such as vaccine and mask mandates, especially those in public schools.
She said keeping schools open is just the start of a “pro-parent, pro-family revolution” that includes banning the teaching of so-called critical race theory, which conservatives contend could further divide Americans and worsen race relations.
“Americans are tired of a political class trying to remake this country into a place where an elite view tells everyone else what they can and cannot say, what they can and cannot believe,” Reynolds said. “They’re tired of people pretending the way to erase racism is by categorizing everybody by their race.”
The 62-year-old Reynolds began her political career as the elected treasurer of a rural county, serving four terms in that office before her election to the Iowa state Senate in 2008. She was elevated to the post of lieutenant governor two years later as the running mate of Governor Terry Branstad, succeeding him in 2017 when he was confirmed as then-President Donald Trump’s choice as ambassador to China.
BOGOTA COLOMBIA). Monday, February 28, 2022 (RPTV NEWS AGENCY). A hundred Ukrainians residing in Colombia protested at the Russian Embassy in Bogotá, demanding that Putin stop the attacks against their people. The demonstration was joined by Russian citizens who disagree with the Kremlin’s decision.
“We are going to stop this war ourselves, because the enemy has come to our land, is destroying our houses and killing our people,” said Valeriya Itchenko, a Ukrainian who has lived in Colombia for 15 years.
She, like dozens of her compatriots, came out to protest against Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“We ask that the whole world listen to us and we ask that the Russian authorities listen to us. What they do is illegal, they must condemn what Putin does,” said Rostyslav, a Ukrainian living in Colombia.
And it is not for less, they and the whole world condemn the Russian advance in Ukrainian territory that has caused the displacement of more than 400,000 Ukrainians.
“They are bombing us and we have tanks in the streets, so who can sleep with that situation like this,” says Elena Rockas, a Ukrainian in Colombia.
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Thursday, February 24, 2022 (RPTV NEWS AGENCY). The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has participated tonight in Brussels in the extraordinary European Council to address the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, during which he has held a videoconference with the Ukrainian President, Volodímir Zelenski.
The Heads of State and Government have agreed on a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation for the attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a neighboring country and, as Pedro Sánchez highlighted, “an attack on the security of the entire European continent”. This is a second package of restrictive measures after the one adopted last Tuesday, February 22.
The President of the Government has underlined: “The situation is very serious. We are facing a flagrant violation of international law that we cannot accept. And the EU must respond along the lines that we have been maintaining in recent weeks: Unity, which is the basis of our strength; and firmness in our position, open to dialogue and diplomatic channels, but very willing to adopt harsh restrictive measures, if Russia opted for force, as it has been».
The Spanish Embassy in Kiev has been in contact for weeks with Spanish residents in Ukraine to provide them with available information on possible evacuation routes. Of the more than 400 Spaniards registered at the Embassy, more than a hundred are already in Spain. In this sense, President Sánchez has guaranteed that the necessary help will be provided to the Spaniards who still remain in Ukraine, just over 200.
Pedro Sánchez has recalled that Spain is a country of solidarity and has highlighted the need for the European Union to prepare for the humanitarian consequences arising from this aggression. “We reiterate our support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people and government at this difficult time. Spain and the European partners are by your side”, stated the Chief Executive.
EU sanctions on Russia
The extraordinary European Council, during the videoconference held with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski Moncloa/European Union and Fernando CalvoPedro Sánchez, highlighted that, in this extraordinary European Council, additional restrictive measures have been reached “that we want them to have, as we have come pointing out, a forceful and massive effects against the Russian economy». And all of this, as the president highlighted, has been done “in close coordination with our transatlantic partners, our NATO allies and other international actors.”
The 27 have agreed on a new package of sanctions on Russia that complements those approved on Tuesday. The list of individual sanctions is extended and the sectoral ones are expanded, with restrictive measures that will further reduce the financing capacity of Russian public and private institutions, limiting movements, transactions and deposits and establishing a strict control of exports, in particular of dual-use and technological material.
“This aggression is a frontal attack on European principles and values that opens a multidimensional crisis. Today, we European leaders have reaffirmed our common commitment to confront this clear violation of the international order on the basis of our unity and firmness”, concluded the President of the Government.
