VTB: Sanctions Will Limit Card Use Outside Russia

Russian lender VTB said Western sanctions on its operations would limit the use of its cards outside Russia, and warned customers in other nations to withdraw money or pay through different banks.

According to a Thursday (Feb. 24) report by Reuters, VTB said all cards, including Mastercard and Visa, would still be functional within Russia and that it had no plans to limit its currency exchange operations.

VTB was one of the targets of the wide-ranging sanctions levied Thursday by the U.S., the U.K., Japan and a host of countries in Europe and Oceania aimed at penalizing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Some sanctions were immediate, while others will go into effect next week. They follow less severe measures taken earlier in the week in an unsuccessful bid to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to not invade Ukraine.

So far, the sanctions do not include barring Russia from the SWIFT payments system — a step called for by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some U.S. politicians. President Joe Biden said a SWIFT block is still possible.

Read more: Biden, European Leaders Double Down on Russia Sanctions

“It is always an option, but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” he said.

Biden said sanctions were designed to inflict “a severe cost on the Russian economy. I will do everything in my power to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump.”

“The sanctions we imposed exceed anything that’s ever been done,” Biden continued. “The sanctions we imposed have generated two-thirds of the world joining us. They are profound sanctions.”

In addition to VTB, targets of the sanctions include lender Sberbank and the Russian transportation sector. The U.S. and its allies have also limited sales of some semiconductors and biotech to Russian enterprises.

Some countries have set up specific local sanctions, such as the U.K.’s move to prevent Russia’s Aeroflot airline from using U.K. airports.