Visa, Mastercard suspend operations in Russia.

Visa and Mastercard announced on Saturday they were suspending all operations in Russia over the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Visa Inc. says all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued within Russia will no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside of the Russia will no longer work within the country.

“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed,” Al Kelly, chief executive officer of Visa, said in a statement.

“We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values.”

Mastercard said its cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by Mastercard networks, and any of the company’s card issued outside of Russia will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs, according to Reuters.

“We don’t take this decision lightly. Mastercard has operated in Russia for more than 25 years. We have nearly 200 colleagues there who make this company so critical to many stakeholder,” Mastercard said in a statement.

“These have been and will continue to be very difficult days – most of all for our employees and their families in Ukraine; for our colleagues with relatives and friends in the region; for our colleagues in Russia; and for the rest of us who are watching from afar,” it added.

Both companies previously announced that they would blocking several Russian financial institutions from their networks in compliance with sanctions against Russian for its unprovoked invasion of Russia.