Joining in the trend of other companies, financial services companies PayPal and Payoneer has now also decided to suspend their operations in Russia amid an attempt to isolate the country and further weaken their financial stability. Similarly, the American multinational computer software company Adobe has also joined the list of global companies and suspended its operations in Russia.
While PayPal took the decision on Saturday, March 5, to halt its services citing “certain circumstances”, it had earlier stopped accepting new users in Russia and further also blocked some users and banks in Russia as of March 2, 2022. On the other hand, in a blog post, Adobe also announced the same and said that it will halt all new sales of Adobe products and services in Russia. Earlier, it had also taken a series of steps to ensure the health and safety of the employees and further provide humanitarian aid to the war-hit nation. Along with that, the company has also made a series of grants of more than $1 million USD to Ukraine through its Adobe Foundation.
Meanwhile, apart from these three companies, several other companies have also joined the list such as credit card companies MasterCard, Visa, and American Express followed by online payment applications Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung pay. Companies from automotive to textile, energy, MNCs, retailers, one by one many have made the move to increase the financial pressure on Russia and its people following its attack on Ukraine.
Some are also selling their stakes in Russian companies, such as energy giant BP, while others like Harley-Davidson halted product shipments to the country.
MasterCard and Visa suspends operations in Russia
Two new additions to the list of global companies are MasterCard and Visa which on Saturday announced to suspend their operations in Russia as a major blow to the country’s financial system. In separate statements issued by the companies, while Mastercards issued by the Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network, any other card issued outside the country will not work at the Russian stores or ATMs. Similarly, Visa is also not working with its clients and partners in Russia for seizing its operations over the coming days.