Mastercard, American Express and Visa have announced plans to suspend all payments in Russia in the latest blow to the country's financial system after its invasion of Ukraine.
Pictures over the weekend showed long queues outside cash machines in St Petersburg as locals raced against time to withdraw money as sanctions came into force.
Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any card issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs.
"We don't take this decision lightly," Mastercard said in a statement, adding that it made the move after discussions with customers, partners and governments.
Rival Visa said it is working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days.
American Express also said it is suspending "all operations" in Russia.
"We are compelled to act following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed," Visa chairman and chief executive officer Al Kelly said in a statement.
And Russian businesses and cash machines will no longer be able to accept cards issued abroad.
Both companies process around 90 percent of all debit and credit card payments outside of China.
Mastercard said the events of the past 11 days were "shocking and devastating".
It comes as online payments giant PayPal terminated its partnership with Russia on Saturday.
Boss, Dan Schulman, said the company "stands with the international community in condemning Russia's violent military aggression in Ukraine".
It comes as a growing list of businesses sever ties with Russia including Marks & Spencer, IKEA, Apple and Microsoft.
The move is to pile pressure on Putin and cripple his economy which ultimately funds the war.
Russia's currency, the ruble, hit new lows against the dollar last week amid soaring inflation.
In response, Russia's central bank hiked interest rates from 9.5% to over 20% in a bid to stop a run on the country's currency.
But cryptocurrency firms like Coinbase and Binance are choosing to keep operations going in the country, saying a shutdown would likely harm innocent consumers, many of whom "likely oppose what their country is doing".
Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's co-founder, tweeted: "We don't think there's a high risk of Russian oligarchs using crypto to avoid sanctions.
"Because it is an open ledger, trying to sneak lots of money through crypto would be more traceable than using US dollars, cash, art, gold or other assets."
