PayPal suspended services in Russia on Saturday

Photo: Stock/Canva

PayPal suspended services in Russia on Saturday

The U.S. payments company said they are suspending PayPal services in Russia under the current circumstances.

PayPal suspended services in Russia on Saturday

Photo: Stock/Canva

PayPal has suspended services in Russia on Saturday morning.

THE COMPANY CONDEMNS RUSSIA’S MILITARY AGGRESSION IN UKRAINE

According to a report by Reuters, the U.S. payments company‘s chief executive, Dan Schulman, said it stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine.

“Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia,” Schulman told the agency.

PayPal will continue to process withdrawals for a “period of time.”

PAYPAL STOPPED ACCEPTING NEW USERS IN RUSSIA ON WEDNESDAY

This comes after the company stopped accepting new users in Russia on Wednesday.

PayPal, which only allows cross-border transactions by users in Russia, had already blocked some users and some of the country’s biggest banks following sanctions by the United States and other countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has called the move a “special operation.”

Ukrainian government officials had been calling on PayPal to quit Russia and help them with fundraising.

ALSO READ: Russia declares partial ceasefire allowing civilians to leave Mariupol

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation Alexander Bornyakov called on PayPal to take more sweeping action and shut down entirely in Russia.

PAYPAL HAS HELPED RAISE $150 MILLION FOR CHARITIES SUPPORTING UKRAINE

PayPal is supporting users in Ukraine through cross-border transactions and its Xoom service for international money transfers, the company said

PayPal said on Friday that “since the beginning of the invasion, PayPal has helped raise over $150 million for charities supporting response efforts in Ukraine, one of the largest efforts we’ve seen in such a short period of time.”

PayPal’s suspension in Russia also applies to its money transfer tool Xoom. Rivals Wise and Remitly earlier suspended some services in Russia.

Click here for LIVE real-time updates on the war between Russia and Ukraine