Blocking of the Mastercard

Mastercard has blocked access to its payment system for several Russian banks from the sanctions list, which includes VTB, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank.

Restrictions on card transactions apply to purchases outside the territory of Russia and on the websites of foreign online stores.

"The national payment card system processes all domestic traffic on payment cards. Cards of international payment systems issued by banks that have fallen under sanctions will continue to work inside the country as usual," said the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina.

The Visa international payment system has announced that it is also ready to join the restrictions.