Visa and Mastercard just dropped the hammer on Russia

Governments and corporations around the world, and even some oil companies, have come together over the past week to collectively choke off the Russian economy in an effort to force Vladimir Putin out of power. But one key financial artery that was still flowing was the continued use of Visa and Mastercard within Russia and across its border – until now.

Just now, Visa and Mastercard have separately released statements announcing that they’re immediately beginning the process of pulling the plug on Russian financial transactions, and that the process should be complete within days.

This not only deals another severe economic blow against the overall Russian economy, it also has the potential to help make the Russian people aware of what’s going on. Putin has taken various steps to try to keep his own people in the dark about just how poorly things have been going for Russia on the world stage over the past week. But now the Russian people are going to find their credit cards no longer working, and are going to demand answers.