American Express announces suspension of operations in Russia, Belarus

American Express on Sunday announced the suspension of its operations in Russia and Belarus over the ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

This comes a day after credit card and payment giants Mastercard and Visa announced that they were suspending operations in Russia and that their cards issued by Russian banks will no longer work outside the country.

"In light of Russia's ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia. As a result, globally issued American Express cards will no longer work at merchants or ATMs in Russia," American Express said in a statement.

"Additionally, cards issued locally in Russia by Russian banks will no longer work outside of the country on the American Express global network. We are also terminating all business operations in Belarus," the statement added.

Al Kelly, chief executive officer of Visa, on Saturday said the ongoing threat to peace and stability demands that the company responds in line with its values.

Mastercard also suspended network services in Russia over the latter's special military operation in Ukraine.

"This decision flows from our recent action to block multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network, as required by regulators globally," Mastercard said in a Saturday statement.

Responding to the statement issued by the two companies, the Russian state-owned banking company said the suspension of Visa and Mastercard services in the country will not affect the use of cards issued by Russia's Sberbank within the country.