International card companies Mastercard and Visa have announced they are ceasing operations and disconnecting all Russian banks from their payment systems due to sanctions related to Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine. 

However, Russia-issued cards will continue to work within the country, since all local payments are processed via the internal National Payment Card System (NSPK), created in 2014.

Visa Inc. announced on Saturday night that it was "immediately" beginning to "work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days."

Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation.