Visa and Mastercard block Russian banks from their networks after sanctions

Payments and credit card giants $Visa (V.US)$ and Mastercard have blocked financial institutions from their networks in response to government sanctions on Russian entities.

The U.S. placed a number of Russian individuals and financial institutions on a sanctions list last week, after Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine.

Visa and $MasterCard (MA.US)$ both pledged $2 million toward humanitarian relief funds for Ukraine.