Russian banks say debit cards may stop working due to Western sanctions

Russian banks are warning debit card holders that new sanctions from the US and UK could mean their cards stop working abroad. Emails from multiple Russian banks urging their customers to withdraw money from accounts linked to UnionPay-branded cards as soon as possible came one day after the US and UK implemented sweeping new sanctions authorizing the rejection of transactions from a list of Russian financial institutions. UnionPay is a Chinese payment system that some Russian banks were using before the war, and more turned to it after MasterCard and Visa pulled out of the country following the invasion a…