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In what has likely come as a rude shock to some Russians, Visa and MasterCard have stopped processing payments at several of the country's banks as part of U.S. sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
The BBC reports that four banks have been affected, "all of which have links to Russians blacklisted by the U.S."
Russia's RIA Novostri reports:
"Several banks reported that customer cards were being declined for payment and that they had received no advance notification of the changes. Customer deposits remained unaffected.
"Visa confirmed Friday that it had blocked cards issued by four Russian banks for use on its payment network for online or retail purchases."