By BLOOMBERG

Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. have blocked certain Russian activity from their payment networks to comply with international sanctions. 

The U.S. companies did not name the affected customers, but cited efforts around the world to isolate Russia from the financial system in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.  

“Visa is taking prompt action to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions, and is prepared to comply with additional sanctions that may be implemented,” the firm said in a statement Tuesday. 

“As a result of sanction orders, we have blocked multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network.  We will continue to work with regulators in the days ahead to abide fully by our compliance obligations as they evolve,” Mastercard said late Monday.

The U.S., European Union and U.K. are among those deploying sweeping sanctions against Russia’s economy and wealthy individuals in response to its invasion of Ukraine. They include excluding some Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system that facilitates trillions of dollars worth of transactions.