PayPal Blocked in Russia

PayPal Blocked in Russia

By Hannah Dunbar

Companies from around the world are pulling out of Russia as the country’s economy plummets. PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) also just shut down PayPal, an electronic payment website, early on March 5 in Russia due to the current Russia-Ukraine war, joining many financial and tech companies in suspending operations after the invasion of Ukraine.

PayPal is the latest payment organization to sever ties with Russia which now faces a barrage of sanctions from the West over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. PayPal’s suspension in Russia also applies to its money transfer tool Xoom. Rivals Wise and Remitly earlier suspended some services in Russia.

The President and Chief Executive of PayPal, Dan Schulman stated that: “Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia”.

He also added that the company “stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine.”

PayPal has helped raise $150 million for charities supporting response efforts in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion.

Ukrainian government officials had been calling on PayPal to leave Russia. News of this decision was welcomed by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov who tweeted a copy of Schulman’s statement addressed to him.

“We received a letter from @Dan_Schulman, CEO PayPal. So now it’s official: PayPal shuts down its services in Russia citing Ukraine aggression. Thank you @PayPal for your support! Hope that soon you will open it in Ukraine.”, Fedorov said on twitter. He attached the letter to the twitter post which can be viewed on his official page.

The United States has blocked numerous financial institutions in Russia, including the country’s central bank. The U.S. has also blocked American companies and people from doing business with any Russian individual or entity on the blacklist. Following the measures, payment, and credit card giants Visa and Mastercard blocked Russian financial institutions from their networks.

A company spokesperson from PayPal said PayPal will support withdrawals “for a period of time, ensuring that account balances are dispersed in line with applicable laws and regulations.”

With this shutdown, many Russian citizens are facing economic uncertainty. People on Twitter have been trying to help them by providing other resources that they can use such as: buymeacoffee.com, smallwordsfs.com, arty.ooo, and lavky.com.

Despite this though, numerous Russian users on Twitter dependent on PayPal have shared their worries and how they won’t even be able to get food on the table. Those who heavily depend on PayPal for an income now are unable to get their paychecks. Numerous artists on Twitter who use PayPal for commissions announced it on their accounts and their disdain for this and against Putin.

With this, these people are scrambling to find other ways to get money to support themselves and their families. Many of these people are unsure what to do under these circumstances.

The average Russian citizen does not support the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, innocent people are being affected by these companies shutting down.