Paypal suspends services in Russia citing Moscow's aggression

American Payment company Paypal Holding Inc on Saturday suspended its services in Russia, citing Moscow's 'violent military aggression in Ukraine', Paypal President and CEO Dan Schulman said in a letter to the Ukrainian government.

"PayPal supports the Ukrainian people and stands with the international community in condemning Russia's violent military aggression in Ukraine," the letter addressed to Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov, who is also the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

"Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia. We are also doing all that we can to support our staff in the region during this deeply difficult time," the letter read.

"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 for Ukraine," Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a tweet.

The letter also talked about the campaigns that Paypal has launched in order to aid the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.

"In the days since we launched our 'consumer-focused giving' campaigns several million dollars have been donated by our customers to international relief charities providing humanitarian aid within Ukraine and refugee support. These relief organizations include the International Rescue Committee (IRC) UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Direct Relief and Save the Children and many others working on the ground in Ukraine and with refugees in surrounding nations," the letter read.

Earlier on Tuesday, American tech giant Apple paused all product sales in Russia and limited Apple Pay and other services in the country due to the military operation in Ukraine. A number of other companies including Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube have blocked Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik in Europe

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US and its European allies have introduced sanctions targeting several major Russian banks and high-rank Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, besides ousting Russia from the SWIFT financial system.

A number of countries, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, have also slapped financial sanctions and travel bans against Russia. They are mulling new targeted penalties to freeze assets and restrict travel against Russia's most influential political and military officials.

( With inputs from ANI )

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